Stop mowing thistles!
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15
I was walking around my yard the other day when I noticed three thistle plants, about ten yards apart, beginning to emerge right in the middle of my thick fescue. Laying there, flat on the ground, with their unmistakable hairy-like leaves converging in a dessert-plate sized circle, long before they shoot their flower-tipped briery stalk two feet above the earth. It’s the same three thistle plants from last year, making an unwelcomed return visit. I now remember not remembering to dig those plants up, just defaulting to the grass-mower to level the pests week to week to week. In the meantime, I’m sure, the root system of those thistles has gotten stronger and stronger and stronger.
I see those thistles as a parable of broken relationships which have left the indelible signs of hurt, betrayal, resentment and a lack of closure-the kinds of relational disconnects which, though dormant for a season, or “mow-able” to make invisible, they grow a strong bitter root system causing all kinds of lingering trouble for any number of people we love.
The writer of Hebrews doesn’t tell us we won’t fail and hurt one another. He doesn’t say it’s inappropriate to feel mad and sad when people disregard or dance on our hearts. He simply says, “Far from fertilizing your bitterness, pull up the roots! Stop mowing the thistles of your heart!” NO ONE pays a bigger price for bitterness than the bitter person.
Lastly, notice how this verse juxtaposes the grace of God and the root of bitterness. To “miss the grace of God” is to become bitter. The point? Dig up roots of bitterness with the spade of grace, then pour two heaping handfuls of God’s mercy into the raw hole. water with believing prayer, and watch a garden of freedom and beauty grow!