More than just mulch

My husband and I bought our home last March and moved in shortly after we finished some updating and work around the house. Amongst many other cosmetic things, one of our projects was yard work. (And when I say “our” project I really mean HIS project, I just cheered him on from the side lines. Yard work isn’t really my thing!) 

Although we have a very nice size yard, it needed A LOT of TLC. After lots of leaf removal, grass seeds and tree trimming, we got to the final piece, THE MULCH.

I never knew how many options there were for mulch! After looking at all the possibilities Reuben and I (well mostly Reuben, he's a little more into this stuff then I am!) decided on getting the red, plastic mulch. (Yep, PLASTIC!) Reuben sold me on the plastic mulch even though it was way more expensive for two really good reasons. First, it looks better; the plastic keeps its color longer and you're able to use it year after year without that faded look to it and second it's plastic so it won't attract bugs the way wood mulch would. Once that dilemma was settled, we bought a ton of plastic mulch, fixed up the front yard, laid it out and it looked FAB. We couldn’t be happier. Now, fast forward just one year and guess what we're doing, you guessed it! Shopping for mulch….

Why you ask? Good question, I asked the same thing!! Well you see, when the spring came, up through all the mulch grass started to grow and weeds began to sprout. Now all of our bright, colorful mulch was tainted by weeds. We realized (a little late) that before putting down the mulch, the proper procedure would have been to pull up any weeds we could, then put down this plastic barrier that would stop and kill any new sprouting weeds, THEN lay the mulch. The plastic would serve as a barrier to keep any new weed growth from sprouting and as a foundation to lay down the new mulch.

It makes a lot of sense, and for the most part it’s a very straight forward process. It likely wouldn’t have taken all that much more time to do it the right way to begin with but now that we did it the wrong way, our time and effort (not to mention money spent) would all be doubled, at the least.

Now as you’re reading this one of two things is happening. One, you’re wondering why I would blog about mulch or two you’re realizing this is about more than just mulch.

How similar is this mulch scenario to many of our life struggles? We have great intentions, but in a rush to finish the job and make things “look nice” we often skip over the process completely. We have a tendency to deal with the immediate and visible exterior, skipping over the deeper, bigger issue that lies below. At first glance everything will seem ok, and typically we are left with something nice to look at (initially anyways) but it’s just a matter of time before all the old issues, problems and feelings creep back up and show their ugly face again.

Whether you realize it or not, you’ve likely been in this situation, possibly more than once. An eager desire to see immediate change leaves us with unresolved, underlying issues that will later surface and cause us double the work and effort to rectify.

In my own life I’ve seen this happen in relationships, finances, obligations or responsibilities, even emotional hurts and offenses I’ve encountered.

I thought I dealt with the situation, I thought I was over it, I thought it was rectified, but in the end I realize, I thought wrong and what I really did was place a nice cover over an ugly issue. We all know that looks can be deceiving and it’s only a matter of time before the weeds of life begin to creep back up and roar their ugly heads again.

Why is it that we are so eager to skip the process? Why is it we tend to be more concerned with the visible evidence of the issue rather than the actual source of the problem? Could it be a subconscious fear of finding out what really lies beneath? Or maybe in our own impatience we want a quick fix rather than a lasting change?

I realized something through this all, something I knew but suddenly because that much more tangible in my life. Jesus did not intend to suppress our offenses; pushing them deep down under, far enough that they wouldn’t been seen or even sensed by those around us, rather His desire is to supplement those things, removing them completely and replacing them with HIM.

I wonder how much time I could have saved, how much energy wouldn’t have been wasted or better yet, how many more seasons my “change” would have lasted had I gone to the root of the problem rather than try to quickly cover it up.

Thankfully it’s never too late to get it right, it’s never too late to stop, dig up the dirt and start the process (the complete process) all over again. It may seem difficult to face, it may seem like more work than you’re willing to commit to, but in the end you’ll be glad you did it.

No matter how bright the mulch was or how nice it looked, its beauty was eclipsed by the protruding weeds. Don’t let protrusions from your past eclipse the beauty of your present.

Find the problem, get to the root, dig it up and then place Jesus, your protective barrier, between what was and what is. He is able to be the barrier you need to seperate you from what once was and what is, as well as the foundation you need to build a new beginning.    

It’s never too late.