The strength of a weed

On Friday my son and I mowed our lawn. He does the mowing and I do the weed eating and cleanup. Having just gotten back from our trip to New York and Canada the time between mowing had exceeding its normal length and therefore the weeds in the flower beds had grown beyond my comfort level. Considering the number of weeds that took up residence in my flower beds and the list of things I still wanted to get done that day, I decided that my course of action would be to pulverize the weeds with the weedeater. If you know anything about me you know that I buy the best tools I can afford. Therefore, I don’t own a wimpy, underpowered electric weedeater. When I take my weedeater to a weed with the intent to pulverize it, it gets pulverized. But you know what? I know without a doubt that when I go mow that lawn in seven days I will be able to look down at that spot and see that exact same weed. Smaller mind you, but there nonetheless and growing just as happy as can be. It made me stop and think. I can come back week after week and pulverize this little plant over and over again, taking it down to barely a nub of green, and time after time as if in utter defiance it will sprout new stems and leaves. How many living things in this world can take such abuse again and again and not die. As long as it has its roots intact this plant will do this little dance with me until the end of time.


Lord, give me the strength of this little weed. Let them do what they want to my body. Let them inject it with poisons, shoot it with toxic radiation, or cut it open and take stuff out. Let the cancer pulverize my body. Let the possible bad news of cancer spreading wear me down to a little green nub. But give me the strength in my roots; my mind and my heart, to again and again defiantly send out new stems, to send out new leaves. Give me the strength to look this noma in the eye and tell it defiantly "you will not kill me."