Let's pretend that we can link arms with the Tin Man, Dorothy, and the Scarecrow on the Yellow Brick Road. In a deep, dark forest. Screaming monkeys lurking in the shadows. Enough to make Dorothy say, "I don't like this forest. It's dark and creepy." Scarecrow chimes in, "Of course, I don't know, but I think it will get darker before it gets lighter." Dorothy looks at the Tin Man and asks, "Do you suppose we will meet any wild animals?" "We might." Worried, the Scarecrow asks," Animals that eat straw?" "Some, mostly lions and tigers and bears."
"LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY! LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY! LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY! LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY!"
That phrase has been rattling around in my brain for weeks. Why? Because of WITCH'S BROOM, MUCK AND WEEDS! OH MY!
Witch's broom. is a disease that is carried by spruce, and blueberries. Most of my spruce have gone bye-bye because of beetles, but I still nurse my blueberry bushes that have also become infected. From reading I've done, there is no cure. But I keep pruning off and burning all the witch's broom I find on the bushes. Over and over and over again. Every year.
And muck? I've been digging muck out of my lake for over 20 years. It's an endless battle. Every year milfoil gets ferried first-class on westerly-wind-waves across my lake and dumped in and around my 60 foot pier. There it quickly roots and spreads into a thick mat that I need to cut out and rake out. Then I have to dig out and remove the muck that has rotted down under it. Exasperated, this year I purchased a Little Giant Muck Cart and 70 Quart Muck Bucket from Blaine’s Farm and Fleet.
And weeds? In my garden and flower beds, they grow faster than anything I plant! (Overnight? 5 feet tall?) Some come back even after I've pulled them out and thrown them onto a compost pile. How is that even possible?
It gets a bit discouraging. So sometimes when I'm de-witch's-brooming, or mucking, or weeding, my tired brain kicks into the refrain, "Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!" And then I laugh. For none of these frustrations weigh very heavy on the scale of life's challenges. In fact, just the opposite. I don't need to shell out cash for a gym membership when I can stay active in the garden, digging muck, or pruning blueberry bushes. And I also get some physical therapy thrown in, free of charge, to help my foot neuropathy. How so? While I'm doing all this, I'm often performing a high-wire balancing act with little Whiskey playing right between my feet.
And there's another benefit to witch's broom, muck and weeds that keep coming back. They serve as a powerful reminder of spiritual struggles that keep popping up in my life, even at the ripe old age of 71 plus. The struggles? Those that caused the Apostle Paul to lament. "The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out. So I fail to do the good I want to do. Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but it is sin living in me. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is present with me. I certainly delight in God’s law according to my inner self, but I see a different law at work in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin, which is present in my members. What a miserable wretch I am!" (Romans 7:18-24)
Over and over and over again. The same stupid, foolish sins. Even when I'm sure I finally turned the corner. Even when I've vowed, "No more!" Even then sometimes I still get caught.
What a miserable wretch I am! Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! Oh My!
Just like Dorothy, I don't much like this dark and creepy forest of sin. So with Paul I cry out, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Roman 7:24)
Paul's answer? My gracious Heavenly Father's answer? " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 7:25-8:1)
Those are words to treasure, the next time I'm de-witch's brooming, mucking, or weeding. Those are words to treasure as I walk forward in life, confident, joyful, because I walk hand-in-hand with Christ.
Privileged to serve in Christ,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
"LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY! LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY! LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY! LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY!"
That phrase has been rattling around in my brain for weeks. Why? Because of WITCH'S BROOM, MUCK AND WEEDS! OH MY!
Witch's broom. is a disease that is carried by spruce, and blueberries. Most of my spruce have gone bye-bye because of beetles, but I still nurse my blueberry bushes that have also become infected. From reading I've done, there is no cure. But I keep pruning off and burning all the witch's broom I find on the bushes. Over and over and over again. Every year.
And muck? I've been digging muck out of my lake for over 20 years. It's an endless battle. Every year milfoil gets ferried first-class on westerly-wind-waves across my lake and dumped in and around my 60 foot pier. There it quickly roots and spreads into a thick mat that I need to cut out and rake out. Then I have to dig out and remove the muck that has rotted down under it. Exasperated, this year I purchased a Little Giant Muck Cart and 70 Quart Muck Bucket from Blaine’s Farm and Fleet.
And weeds? In my garden and flower beds, they grow faster than anything I plant! (Overnight? 5 feet tall?) Some come back even after I've pulled them out and thrown them onto a compost pile. How is that even possible?
It gets a bit discouraging. So sometimes when I'm de-witch's-brooming, or mucking, or weeding, my tired brain kicks into the refrain, "Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!" And then I laugh. For none of these frustrations weigh very heavy on the scale of life's challenges. In fact, just the opposite. I don't need to shell out cash for a gym membership when I can stay active in the garden, digging muck, or pruning blueberry bushes. And I also get some physical therapy thrown in, free of charge, to help my foot neuropathy. How so? While I'm doing all this, I'm often performing a high-wire balancing act with little Whiskey playing right between my feet.
And there's another benefit to witch's broom, muck and weeds that keep coming back. They serve as a powerful reminder of spiritual struggles that keep popping up in my life, even at the ripe old age of 71 plus. The struggles? Those that caused the Apostle Paul to lament. "The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out. So I fail to do the good I want to do. Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but it is sin living in me. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is present with me. I certainly delight in God’s law according to my inner self, but I see a different law at work in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin, which is present in my members. What a miserable wretch I am!" (Romans 7:18-24)
Over and over and over again. The same stupid, foolish sins. Even when I'm sure I finally turned the corner. Even when I've vowed, "No more!" Even then sometimes I still get caught.
What a miserable wretch I am! Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! Oh My!
Just like Dorothy, I don't much like this dark and creepy forest of sin. So with Paul I cry out, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Roman 7:24)
Paul's answer? My gracious Heavenly Father's answer? " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 7:25-8:1)
Those are words to treasure, the next time I'm de-witch's brooming, mucking, or weeding. Those are words to treasure as I walk forward in life, confident, joyful, because I walk hand-in-hand with Christ.
Privileged to serve in Christ,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
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