A former pastor friend of mine once wrote a sermon likening the invasive species buckthorn to sin. Once in an area, invasive species like buckthorn tend to crowd out native plants and take over, choking the life and viability out of other plants and trees. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, buckthorn:
- “threatens the future of forests, wetlands, prairies, and other natural habitats.
- out-competes native plants for nutrients, light, and moisture.
- degrades wildlife habitat.
- contributes to erosion by out-competing plants on the forest floor that help hold soil in place.
- serves as host to other pests, such as crown rust fungus and soybean aphid.
- creates messy fruits that stain sidewalks and driveways.
- lacks “natural controls,” such as insects or disease that would curb its growth.”
Buckthorn is aggressive and has extensive dense root systems that don’t want to let go. Sounds (and looks) a lot like sin, doesn’t it? Sin can be invasive, aggressive, erosive, and dangerous, inviting all sorts of nasty other pests to invade/infest, all the while choking out life and good things.
Shortly after I heard this sermon, I was determined to rid my yard of buckthorn and my life of sin. I went to town, identifying buckthorn which had sprouted up on my property, cutting it down, painting herbicide on stumps left behind. I pulled countless baby buckthorn out by hand. The most memorable part of this season came at the tail end. Spiritually I had been doing a lot of work forgiving and addressing wounds of my past, some of which were father wounds I had carried since childhood. Of course, the Lord would orchestrate it so that my father helped me to pull and dig out the last and largest stump. The significance of this natural and spiritual buckthorn removal in this manner was not lost on me. I have been so thankful for what the Lord did then and as I continue to pull new baby buckthorn shoots year after year.
Sin, like buckthorn, can creep back into our lives if we’re not actively guarding against it. Recently, I’ve been on the search for an accountability partner. I’ve recognized some unhealthy sin patterns in my life, particularly in my thought life, that I know need to change. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and praying about this and I know it’s too big for me to handle it on my own. Interestingly, I also began a yard project this summer, converting a large section of my front yard to native landscape. In the midst of this project, near the property line I noticed—you guessed it—a large fruiting buckthorn tree which had expanded over my yard and was dropping berries over a fertile soil bed, endangering my new project. Yikes! I’m not sure if this was the first year the tree bore fruit or if it was the fungus that wiped out many lilacs that made this tree suddenly so noticeable. Underneath were countless berries and a plethora of buckthorn shoots which had sprouted. Much like my sin problem, I felt overwhelmed at how to get rid of all of it—where could I begin?I knew if I left the shoots they would grow into trees, produce berries, and take over my yard. I had to remove them, and more importantly, I had to remove the tree. I knew this would take quite a long time and I kept thinking of my friend’s sermon and my own sin issues surfacing in time with the latest buckthorn invasion. I asked the Lord to speak to me as I began the removal process. In the natural, I put in a good number of hours, hand pulling small buckthorn shoots, sometimes using a shovel. I swept up multiple five-gallon buckets of berries to prevent them from taking root. I prayed for favor with the neighbor and asked if I could remove the buckthorn tree and felt I needed to offer to help remove buckthorn from her property since I was pointing all of it out to her. The Lord heard my prayer and the neighbor was happy for the help with the tree, which a friend helped me cut down at the end of September. There is still much to be done, but headway has been made.
In the midst of the buckthorn removal, I felt the Lord was pointing out things I should learn that apply to both buckthorn (removal) as well as sin:
- I can’t do it alone: whether removing buckthorn or dealing with sin, I need community—at least one other person to partner with. When the buckthorn is overwhelming, a second pair of hands is truly a gift. The same is true with sin: I John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I believe that confession is certainly to God, but sometimes it helps to have someone else hear us. Additionally, for some things, it is difficult to hold ourselves accountable; we need each other, a trusted friend or partner to encourage us and help us conquer.
- I have to be able to identify and distinguish between native/good plants and buckthorn, or spiritually speaking, identify truth from lies. Pulling good plants along with the buckthorn because we can’t tell which is which potentially causes more harm to the environment (parable of wheat and tares?). When dealing with my sin issues, it is sometimes tempting to become introspective in ways that are not beneficial. A friend of mine calls this “navel gazing.” That helps no one and can easily confuse us and blind us to truth, particularly the truth of our identity in Christ. We’re meant to gaze on Jesus—keeping our eyes fixed on Him.
- Prayer plays a key role. In the natural, I prayed for favor for my conversation with my neighbor because I knew it was possible she could tell me she loved buckthorn and would refuse to take the tree down. I was up against an unknown and needed the Lord’s favor with her. In the spiritual, I can’t give up praying for victory in the area of my sin. Sometimes I grow tired of praying for the same thing over and over again, but Luke 11 reminds me that I need to be persistent in my prayer.
- Last but not least, as everyone probably already knows, I have to get rid of the buckthorn in my own yard before I can attempt to get rid of the speck of buckthorn in my neighbor’s yard.
I truly hope your yards are free of buckthorn and your lives are free of sin. Since the latter is impossible this side of heaven, may you find yourselves in a good place: in community that can help decipher truth from lies and is well versed in prayer.