Mornings and Evenings

Anna and I completed last week, two months of our stay in my mother's home, in this eighty year old cottage.

Anna and I have spent our morning and evening times in the garden to get it to a reasonable visually pleasing sight. We have lawns around the house, with the grass we brought from the lawn at our PIMS home. Now that, we have a forty old day Beagle puppy, she insists that we spend longer time outdoor in the garden. It is a challenge to keep the garden free of weeds as the fertile soil and frequent rains promote overgrowth. Some of the hedge plants, lantana, rose, etc we have planted have grown, which encourage us to attempt to grow more plants. Anna has been making efforts to make a kitchen garden, which is also making a progress. 

The weeds tell us a story that we had not considered earlier. We have not been able to stop the weeds from growing. Sometimes weeds grow faster than the grass and plants. They occupy the space meant for the plants. They choke the grass and deplete the soil of manure and moisture. Every time we manure or water the ground, the weeds get even more energised. 

Our news papers and TV channels area full of news, comments and expose on corruption, nepotism, unlawful personal gains of public servants. There is so much hype about it, and I suspect that we are promoting even more corrupt practices. People would learn to do more of the same and cover their deceitful practices even more, to avoid from being found out.

Jesus of Nazareth spoke a parable of the weeds and wheat. He suggested that, 'let the weeds also grow', lest we uproot the wheat while removing the weeds. At the time of the harvest, both would be gathered, wheat to the barns and the weeds to the fire. 

I wonder whether we need greater focus on doing good!  It is when we saturate our places of work, home, churches, etc. with doing good, we would be able to wean our attention away from weeds, which are there to stay. Let them not consume our attention or energy. Jesus of Nazareth went abut doing good. He referred to the bankruptcy of the religious practices, but went beyond to love, care and serve.

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)