Meadows, not lawns

"What is a weed?  I have heard it said that there are sixty definitions.  For me, a weed is a plant out of place."                         - Donald Culross Peattie

A not-so-fond memory of my childhood was the required digging up of dandelions in our yard.  My mom seemed to enjoy it though.  She would sit outside for hours, chewing on sunflower seeds and digging up dandelions.


For those that aren't familiar, allow me to explain. This here handy dandy tool is used to "pop" up dandelions.  Just place the point an inch or two behind the dandelion, apply downward force at an angle toward the bottom of the weed root, and then attempt to pry it up.  If you do it properly, you will hear a "pop" and you can easily pull the dandelion out of the ground.  It's really quite simple and oddly satisfying.

 As a kid, I tried a short cut and would mow the lawn to chop the tops off, thinking I was ridding our lawn of the noxious weed.  Ah, the logic of a teenage boy.

If I had this neat gadget, I may have enjoyed it a little more.  Dandelion extraction with the Cadillac of removal tools.  Fiskars, a Finnish company (hyvä Suomi!) is known for their scissors so why not get into the dandelion removal business?  That looks like an efficient way to prune a lawn. 



I've been thinking about lawns recently.  Not because of an infestation of dandelions and weeds, but because mine is dying.  It's dying because I'm not watering it enough.  There's something about a lush well-manicured lawn that is properly watered.  It invites you to have a picnic or lay down and search for cloud animals, feeling the breeze of the wind on a warm spring day.  My lawn isn't inviting anything right now.

I read an article today written by an LDS woman, Lavina Fielding Anderson, titled, "In The Garden God Hath Planted:  Explorations Toward a Maturing Faith."  There is a lot in here that speaks to me (and some that doesn't) and I feel is relevant for us today, despite being written 25 years ago. I encourage you to take some time to read it yourselves.

Borrowing off of Ms. Anderson's analogy, I often wonder about the type of individual who can thrive in our church environment.  Is it one that comes to us as a green blade of grass and comfortably plants themselves among the other like-color blades of grass in a beautiful, lush, green lawn?  Is this person happily waiting for the weekly mowing that shaves a little off the top so they are the same size and shape as their neighbor?  Do they get their nourishment from the same amount of water and nutrient source so as to progress and grow and develop at the same relative speed as the other blades of grass in the same general area?

 

What type of individual DOESN'T thrive?  Does a blade of grass that is initially accepted into the lawn, but doesn't soak up water or nutrients from the soil the same as the next guy, die off and whither into thatch?  What happens when a dandelion comes along that wants to hang out in the grass?  Are they accepted as they are or do we quickly "pop" them off at the root and demand they become a blade of grass?  Do we do what I did as a kid and "shave" the top off so as to simulate conformity for another week until it's time to mow again?  Where are the dandelions in our churches and communities?  Are they attempting to pose as a blade of grass hoping they don't get discovered?  Perhaps we know who the dandelions are, but choose to hang out with the rest of the green grass instead.  It's more comfortable fitting in.

 

Maybe it isn't supposed to be a green lawn after all.  Maybe we are individual plants, flowers, grasses and weeds in a vast meadow, each with our own identity that is neither right nor wrong, but equally loved by God.  Are we providing the right kinds of nutrients for each individual plant to survive, or are we assuming that ALL need the same care?  Don't we each grow at our own pace, different from our neighbor, but all contributing to the beauty and majesty of the Meadow?

What is our obsession with trying to convert everyone into a uniformly green lawn of "identical blades?"  Sometimes I fear that we "value" the lawns over the meadow as Ms. Anderson suggests.  Perhaps we are a little too efficient in maintaining our lawns so everyone looks, acts, believes, grows and lives in conformity.  There is value in creating an atmosphere where a dandelion can come in, take a look around, and decide this wouldn't be such a bad place to hang out, without feeling that their presence will distract from the perfectly cut green grass we work so hard to maintain.

As for me, I'm a dandelion.  Really not of much worth.  In all fairness, I should be uprooted and tossed aside if not for the grace of God, who hopefully accepts me as an individual weed in His meadow.  I believe God wants us to create meadows, which accept all manner of plants. I believe He wants us all to thrive as an individual by drinking of the living water, that we may never thirst.

In a lesson on living water, Jesus teaches us from an interaction with a woman of Samaria. in John 4: 7-14.  

The Lord, resting near a well, asked the Samarian women for a drink.  This woman was caught off guard as the Jews didn't have "dealings" with the Samarians.  She was a clearly a dandelion to the Jews.  The Lord replied,

"If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."

 Confused at how He was going to provide this drink of "living water," she inquired of the Lord and He replied,

"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." 

The Samarian woman didn't quite catch on.  She was hoping some type of literal water that would forever quench her thirst and eliminate the need to walk to the well to constantly fill her cup.

My lawn will surely wither this summer as the sun beats down onto my water-deprived property.  Despite the vast oceans of salt water along our coast, California is, in a very real way, dying.  There is water, but it will not quench our thirst.

The Lord and His gospel, in all His mercy, provides a way to drink of the cup of eternal life and never thirst again.  If we drink not of the living water we will surely die. All need this nourishment.  Shall we not create an environment of long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and unfeigned love, which allows all people to come in, stay, and drink of the living water freely?