Ten years ago when we bought our home, there was a climbing rose bush on the front fence. My husband and I decided we would leave it up for privacy. Over the years I would prune it a bit. Honestly, only enough to prevent my husband from getting marred when he cut the grass. As time went on the blooms began to fade from pink to white, small mulberry trees had grown up in the middle and the old dead branches were so interwoven with the new growth it became impossible to discern where to prune. The bush was now more than 10 feet tall by 15 feet wide and was so heavy it was breaking the fence and pulling it off its foundation. This was no longer a simple pruning job. It was time to take this monster down.
I went out one unusually mild January afternoon with the plan of cutting it little by little each week so that by spring it would be gone. I was not outside more than 15 minutes when a white truck pulled up. Out stepped a man who asked, “Do you need any yard work done?” I laughed out loud. “What would you charge me to take out this rose bush?” He gave me a price of $30 plus the brush dump fee. Amazingly, that was all I had at the time. Within an hour the bush was gone, the pieces were swept up and the fence repaired. There is no longer any evidence of the monstrosity that once dominated my front yard.
Now before you all ask for the number of my incredibly reasonable new yardman may we consider a few things? I had a monster that I put off dealing with for many years. My first excuse was it provides privacy. How many times in our own lives do we ignore things because it gives us a place to hide? How many times do we fail to address issues until they actually begin to break our ability to stand and pull us off of our foundation? In my rose bush I actually had new growth coming from dead shoots. What a deception. I honestly don’t understand that, but in reality what kind of flower, if any at all, could come from this foundation?
Within a few minutes of my decision to tackle this bush (issue) a white truck showed up. He had actually been driving up and down the neighborhood looking for people who needed help. Who does that sound like? And the price was really nothing. It was more of a gift. A gift like the one we received from Christ. We were a snarling mess of thorns and fading blooms, the appearance of life interwoven in death. As we made a decision and took one step toward Him, He cut the whole thing down to the foundations. Not to destroy us, but to build us up again. He gave everything He had in exchange for everything we had. In the end there is no evidence of what once was. There is however the expectation of new growth in the spring.
Mark 1:15
