Reflections by the Pond
May 21, 2003

Catching it Early

Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
Song of Solomon 2:15 niv

There's a wild rose that grows in these parts. Newcomers (as we were a number of years back) remark at the fragile beauty of its spring blooms--white, with a delicate, almost imperceptible fragrance. Those new to country living count themselves fortunate to have such beauty occurring naturally, and accept as tolerable inconvenience the thorns that accompany the flowers.

But eventually the wild rose wears out its welcome, as it spreads and moves quickly from an object of fragile beauty to a noxious weed--which, indeed, it is. Eventually the short-lived flowers become poor payment for the long, whip-like strands from which they bloom, thorn covered tentacles that seek out shirts and soft flesh, whipping about in search of unprotected eyes.

Several years back I spent the first day of spring cleanup doing battle with two large areas of these thorn-covered beasts and their near cousin: a singularly hateful vine that spreads and twines its way up into the branches of trees, sucking life and health from its host as it fends off property owners with a skin of needle-like spines.

I was now paying the price for permitting these noxious weeds to continue to thrive. Instead of easily lopping them off at an early stage, I now fought my way through their thick growth, collecting scratches and being gouged by their defense systems. What would have earlier required only thirty minutes of whacking with the scythe, now required four hours of dangerous excavation with chain saw and poles.

The radio teacher Charles R. Swindoll calls it "keeping short accounts." By that he means, keeping our confessions current--not warehousing our transgressions for a rainy day, but bringing them before the Lord on a regular basis. Call it renewal, call it revival, call it transparency.

It has very little to do with grace. Regular confession has nothing to do with pleasing God, or fending off some righteous urge we imagine He might have to beat us about the head or shoulders if we don't. But it has everything to do with keeping our lives cleaned out from the garbage we periodically permit in. It has everything to do with maintaining the relationship we have with our God--not buying His smile by the mechanical recitation of wrongs, but keeping the lines of communication static free by their regular cleaning and oiling.

And the more often we do it, the easier it is.

Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.

(J. Edwin Orr)

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Reflections file: pond0372.txt