Chemical Warfare

Today, I moved to the front entryway of my home, where the weeds also needed to be pulled. (This is not my front entry, but it's kind of cool-looking, don't you think?)

As I pulled the weeds in the rocks there, I observed a few more things. First off: this is not as visible to the general public. I'm not out there to see for every car who passes by. We live on a cul-de-sac, so only my immediate neighbors see what's going on, and only one of them came out during the 2 hours I was out today. This area represents the parts of me that only the people I invite into my life see. Some may be very close, and others I may be meeting for the first time, but they're invited into my life for some reason or another.

I neglect this area almost as much as the terraces, and I never use the front door- only the garage- so it's not great looking out there either. But it is more tended than the terraces.

What that means is, the weeds are shorter- and shorter weeds are harder to pull. You have to push the rocks away to get to the roots so that you can pull them out, but often, they just break off in your hand, making them not really gone at all, just not as visible.

That's where the Round Up comes in.
I've been using Round Up a lot in this whole project, but I used it more than normal today. (BTW- this particular incarnation of the RU sprayer is their best invention yet). There are some things you can't pull out by the roots. Guess what my analogy for Round Up is- prayer. (it's not a perfect analogy, but go with me here).

Remember back on Day 1 of this whole fiasco, when I encountered THIS bad boy?
One of my friends on Facebook suggested I spray it liberally with Round Up before trying to tackle it (I didn't- by the time I posted the picture, the mission was accomplished). Instead, I attacked it, then sprayed the root with Round Up, since I couldn't pull it out. That works too.

But how often do we barge in and try to do things on our own strength, when if we took the time to lift up our burdens to God in prayer, they wouldn't seem as impossible to overcome?

So today, I pulled a lot of crabgrass (bad attitude), Unforgiveness & other weeds like Poison Tongue and Offense out of the rocks. Not all of them came out at the roots, some of them left seeds for later. But then I sprayed all that hard work with Round Up, and hopefully, things will start to improve.

I also went around spraying the cracks in my neighbor's sidewalks. They'll probably never know, but I'm looking out for them too.

One of my friends posted this quote today: "Light attracts bugs." At first, I was like, "well, duh." Then I thought a little about who this friend is, and why she might say something like that. Oh yeah... it's another metaphor.

It is extremely buggy around here right now, Sioux Falls has gotten record amounts of rain in the last 2 months, and there are very few homes that are completely free from water damage (ours came in through the roof, not the basement like most people's). There are also copious amounts of standing water, which is a lovely breeding ground for mosquitoes.

As a result, the last 2 days of work have netted more bug bites and more bug encounters than usual. Not only are bugs attracted to the light we shine as followers of Christ, but bugs are also attracted to the fun we have, trying to ruin it, and the hard work we do- because we get all smelly in the process.

Well guess what, bugs- my chemical prayers work on you too- in the form of Deep Woods Off.

I guess in that respect, I prayed my kids up before sending them off to day camp today. Shine your light, guys!

There are some rays of hope in all this work. My poor tomato plant that was ruthlessly murdered in the name of progress (the roofers dumped layer after layer of shingles on it, breaking it off near the ground), has sprouted new life:
Of course, it's August, and I don't expect it to bear any fruit, but by golly, if it gets blooms, I'm not above digging it up before the first frost and bringing it indoors to finish it's life cycle.

The tomato's neighbors, my chives and garlic chives were also beaten mercilessly, but they're pretty hardy. They are doing pretty well 2 weeks after the siege.
And I've decided to let this one grow here. I've decided to call it "Gentleness." Doesn't it look gentle?

I planted some phlox that hopefully will survive the winter and give us some lovely periwinkle blooms in the spring- like this:
The roofers treated them pretty harshly- setting 2 palates of shingles right on top of them while they worked, but they don't look like they're too much worse for the wear.

So the hope is, that my front entry will be a little more welcoming, and that my "gentleness will be evident to all." It's pretty barren right now.
But hey, I'm a work in progress. :)