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From A Grandma’s Perspective.........

Wild Onions

Wild onions can be very difficult to conquer. When the soil is dry, the tender tops snap off leaving the woodier root snug in the ground where it is ready to grow again. Round Up, one of my favorite weeding friends, just seems to roll off the slender, smooth stalks. This year with all the abundance of moisture, the onions have appeared in abundance in my flower beds, and I decided it was time to tackle the problem with a vengeance!

Sometimes in the evenings I will pick up Emily and Lauren, and we will cruise around the yard on the golf cart, looking at the flowers and stopping to pull a few weeds. When we stop, Lauren likes to "pretend to drive" while Emily joins me in pulling weeds. Emily very quickly learned which were onions and how to pull them without just snapping off the tops. Some slip out of the ground with ease, but some take Grandma’s stronger muscles. Once we were pulling weeds in the garden, and Emily said, "Onions," and quick as a wink she had pulled a handful of my edible spring onions. As I explained the difference between "bad" wild onions and "good" spring onions, I thought about sin and how it can grow like wild onions in our lives.

Sin, like wild onions

· Takes root in our lives and can grow almost unnoticed until firmly rooted. (I Timothy 5:24, Hebrews 12: 15)

· Is not always clearly evident (II Peter 2:1) and can imitate what is good. (Romans 7:10)

· Can be tender and fragile and very difficult to pull completely out. (Hebrews 12:15)

Left unchecked will take over. (Romans 7:23-25)

· When mature, the roots grow deep and are firmly rooted. It is almost impossible to pull an onion out of hard dry soil; but when the sweet, refreshing rains soften and loosen the soil, the onion can be removed with the roots attached. (Hebrews 10: 22, II Peter 3: 14-18)

· Has an aroma. A freshly mowed lawn in the spring reeks of onion and it takes a good scrubbing with soap to remove the smell of onions from your hands after pulling them. (II Corinthians 2:14-16)

Wild onions are not allowed to grow in my flower beds. Sin will keep us from the presence of God. Who is allowed to ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in His holy place? "He who has clean hands and a pure heart…." (Psalms 24:4)

By Pat Hertzler

May 2003

 

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