Lessons from a Stinging Spring Day

A few years ago, I was merrily doing my spring thing—weeding and cultivating the flower beds—when suddenly, my left hand began to tingle and burn. Looking down, I realized I had grubbed a stinging nettle out of the soil with my bare hand. I tend to weed at full speed, rooting out weeds with my left hand while I cultivate with the trowel in my right hand. I’ve tried working with gloves but I can’t get the feel of the soil or enough of a grip on weeds. Clearly, my approach misses in care what it makes up for in speed.

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For the rest of the day I paid for my carelessness with a burning sensation that nothing would alleviate. When the fingers on my left hand stopped burning, the hand felt numb.

My nettle experience was a painful reminder that we live in a fallen world. As a consequence of Adam’s sin God declared, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it . . . It will produce thorns and thistles for you.”[1]  To keep the garden free of weeds and nettles I must labour long and hard. My lawn has too little grass and too many weeds. My garden has too much grass. Go figure.

Dirty, cracked fingernails. Sweat. Aching muscles. The path to a beautiful flower garden and flourishing vegetables is an uphill struggle. So much of the natural world reflects the beauty of its Creator, but experience warns me about the poison ivy waiting to blister my skin and the mosquitoes thirsty for my blood.

Sin entered the Garden of Eden, and every garden since has borne in its soil the seeds of its own destruction. Whenever a gardener eases up, weeds and bugs threaten to take over.

What is true in the natural world is certainly true among the children of Adam. God warned Cain, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”[2] Cain let down his guard. Sin slew his constraint and he slew Abel, his brother.

From that time to this we have dysfunctional families, dishonest merchants, corrupt politicians and scheming dictators—plus so much more. Ravenous lions and poisonous snakes. Rabid dogs and ferocious microbes. Murder. Robbery. Abuse. Deceit. Pride. Envy. Slavery. Prostitution. Pornography. Cancer. AIDS. Heart Disease. Sickness. Despair. Death.

And the bad is not all out there in the larger world among other people, or in our garden, it’s in our own hearts. We’re fallen, sinful creatures. Unconsciously, we often choose the selfish, the proud, the hurtful way. If the great apostle Paul can cry, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature,” and “I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me,”[3] then who are we to deny who we are? “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[4]

The most foolish—and the most dangerous—thing we can do is to deny the reality of evil. The first principle King Jesus taught his disciples concerned the blessedness of those who are poor in spirit; that is, those who are humble and honest about their spiritual poverty. Pride blinds. Humility illumines the soul both to its own baser instincts and the glories of God.[5] The second principle of the King concerns the blessedness of those who maintain an attitude of revulsion towards sin—they mourn.[6] They are comforted by receiving God’s forgiveness but they never take this for granted. They don’t call a truce with unrighteousness. It is always their enemy.

Obviously, this world is not paradise, nor is it our ultimate home. Its most beautiful gardens are not the Garden by the River. There will be a new heaven and a new earth in which dwells righteousness—and flowers and fruitful trees. There will be no pain or tears there, no death. I doubt if there will be stinging nettles or poison ivy in that garden either.

Meanwhile we must keep down the weeds if we are to harvest a crop. We must attack the noxious weeds of selfishness and arrogance with the spade of confession and the fire of repentance. We must look to heaven in prayer for the refreshing rain of the Spirit to produce in us the fruits of righteousness. We must long for the Sun of Righteousness to cast his light upon us that we may grow.

Father, help me to live under the shadow of the cross, for I am a sinner. Show me my sins—but not all at once lest I be overwhelmed. Forgive me but don’t let me take the cleansing blood of Christ for granted. May I be truly sorrowful but not so overcome that I sink in despair. Gracious Lord, help me to live every day in dependence upon your transforming power. When I see evil in the world around me, or in my own heart, or in the lives of family or friends help me to remember the victory that Christ won. Give me patience to wait for your ultimate triumph over all evil. As I am forgiven, help me to be forgiving. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Adapted from Eric Wright’s book, Ðown A Country Road – fifty-two seasonal readings from out where the sky springs free. Currently out of print.)

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[1] Gen. 3:17,18

[2] Gen. 4:7

[3] Rom. 7:18 ; Psalm 51:3

[4] Rom. 3:23

[5] The first beatitude, Matt. 5:3

[6] The second beatitude, Matt. 5:4