My title today comes from a hit song from back in the day. It was dedicated to the NASA Skylab space station, which re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up over the Indian Ocean and Western Australia on 11 July 1979. But I digress. The song itself has been on my mind as the events of the past few days have unfolded. Allow me to explain…
Those of you who read my blog regularly will know already that, in my retirement, I have planted myself an orchard. To this, I have added one grape arbor, one row of blueberries, and another of raspberries. But my crowning achievement was to be my giant blackberry hedge, consisting of two rows of alternating vines, the first containing 27 plants and the second containing 26 plants.
I planted them in the spring of 2022; and, along with my grandsons, actually enjoyed a handful of blackberries in the late summer/early fall of 2023. But while all the vines survived, only a few thrived and produced fruit. Why? The answer consists of three little words: weeds, weeds, and weeds!
You see, by the end of two growth seasons, I came to conclude that what starts out each year as two rows of easily discernable blackberry vines inevitably ends up as a mass of weeds, within which only a handful of the biggest blackberry vines are even visible. Lesson learned!
So, as I am want to do, I began the tedious process of seeking a solution to this dilemma. To my surprise, the process did not take long. I soon discovered the existence of “weed barrier cloth”. After a quick trip to the local hardware store, I had in my possession several roles of heavy duty woven ground cloth designed to be water permeable but plant proof, along with the push pins to hold them to the ground.
While this material was new to me, it seems that landscapers have been hip to this little trick for quite a long time. And now I know why!
Long story short - as I type this, all my rows of blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry vines have now been ensconced within barriers of this material. What is more, after pinning the cloth to the ground, I then finally found a use for a stack of cedar poles bequeathed to me by my father-in-law. (He could not bring himself to dispense with the 8 foot sections of the trunks of small cedars he had cut down when clearing the woods to build his house, and had amassed quite an assemblage of them as a result. I’m now glad of that!)
In any event, I then placed these around the exterior of my newly matted creation in order to keep me from sucking the edge of the mat up into my lawnmower once I start cutting grass. Voila! I found myself with a protected bed in which all my berry vines can now actually flourish.
As I have reflected on all of this, I have been reminded of a spiritual principle. That principle is based on what we read in the Bible in the New Testament Book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Of course, the writer’s analogy is found in the context of sports - specifically that of a marathon runner entering the stadium for the last lap of an ancient Greek marathon.
But focus on that word “entangles”. In the Koine, or Common, Greek language in which the New Testament was originally penned, that word is “euperístatos”. It is a compound word consisting of “eú”, or “well”; “peri”, or “all-around”, and “hístēmi”, or “to stand”. Properly, therefore, it translates as “well-planted all-around”, describing whatever is encompassing, encircling, and/or surrounding us. The point is that we must actively strive to be rid of any and all such hindrances that encircle us and hamper us as we desperately seek to advance.
In the natural world, specifically with regard to the health of my berry vines, weeds have done just this. I am well served, therefore, in subduing them. In the spiritual world, with regard to the health of my soul, sin does much the same. And I am well served to subdue any form of it that hinders my progress!
This is precisely why the Biblical writer here tells us to “throw off” or “lay aside” any such encumbrances. Here, the word is “apotithémi”, which is also a combination of terms, including “apo”, or “to put aside”, and “tithemi”, or “to put, place, lay, set, fix, or establish”.
What lies beneath matters, my friends! Weeds from underneath encumber and hinder the upward advance of berry vines. Sin does the same thing from underneath for upwardly aspiring human souls!
Therefore, if it behooves me to lay down a barrier against weeds for my berry vines as they reach for the sky, how much more does it behoove me to lay down a barrier against sin as I seek to grow ever Heavenly?!
I have now done the former. More than ever, I now intend to do the latter! Maybe you might consider doing the same.
Beware whatever brings you down. The consequences can be devastating!
SONG SOURCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Bring_Me_Down;
https://genius.com/Electric-light-orchestra-dont-bring-me-down-lyrics.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE:
https://biblehub.com/niv/hebrews/12.htm.
GREEK EXEGESIS:
https://biblehub.com/greek/2139.htm.
https://biblehub.com/greek/659.htm.
Those of you who read my blog regularly will know already that, in my retirement, I have planted myself an orchard. To this, I have added one grape arbor, one row of blueberries, and another of raspberries. But my crowning achievement was to be my giant blackberry hedge, consisting of two rows of alternating vines, the first containing 27 plants and the second containing 26 plants.
I planted them in the spring of 2022; and, along with my grandsons, actually enjoyed a handful of blackberries in the late summer/early fall of 2023. But while all the vines survived, only a few thrived and produced fruit. Why? The answer consists of three little words: weeds, weeds, and weeds!
You see, by the end of two growth seasons, I came to conclude that what starts out each year as two rows of easily discernable blackberry vines inevitably ends up as a mass of weeds, within which only a handful of the biggest blackberry vines are even visible. Lesson learned!
So, as I am want to do, I began the tedious process of seeking a solution to this dilemma. To my surprise, the process did not take long. I soon discovered the existence of “weed barrier cloth”. After a quick trip to the local hardware store, I had in my possession several roles of heavy duty woven ground cloth designed to be water permeable but plant proof, along with the push pins to hold them to the ground.
While this material was new to me, it seems that landscapers have been hip to this little trick for quite a long time. And now I know why!
Long story short - as I type this, all my rows of blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry vines have now been ensconced within barriers of this material. What is more, after pinning the cloth to the ground, I then finally found a use for a stack of cedar poles bequeathed to me by my father-in-law. (He could not bring himself to dispense with the 8 foot sections of the trunks of small cedars he had cut down when clearing the woods to build his house, and had amassed quite an assemblage of them as a result. I’m now glad of that!)
In any event, I then placed these around the exterior of my newly matted creation in order to keep me from sucking the edge of the mat up into my lawnmower once I start cutting grass. Voila! I found myself with a protected bed in which all my berry vines can now actually flourish.
As I have reflected on all of this, I have been reminded of a spiritual principle. That principle is based on what we read in the Bible in the New Testament Book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Of course, the writer’s analogy is found in the context of sports - specifically that of a marathon runner entering the stadium for the last lap of an ancient Greek marathon.
But focus on that word “entangles”. In the Koine, or Common, Greek language in which the New Testament was originally penned, that word is “euperístatos”. It is a compound word consisting of “eú”, or “well”; “peri”, or “all-around”, and “hístēmi”, or “to stand”. Properly, therefore, it translates as “well-planted all-around”, describing whatever is encompassing, encircling, and/or surrounding us. The point is that we must actively strive to be rid of any and all such hindrances that encircle us and hamper us as we desperately seek to advance.
In the natural world, specifically with regard to the health of my berry vines, weeds have done just this. I am well served, therefore, in subduing them. In the spiritual world, with regard to the health of my soul, sin does much the same. And I am well served to subdue any form of it that hinders my progress!
This is precisely why the Biblical writer here tells us to “throw off” or “lay aside” any such encumbrances. Here, the word is “apotithémi”, which is also a combination of terms, including “apo”, or “to put aside”, and “tithemi”, or “to put, place, lay, set, fix, or establish”.
What lies beneath matters, my friends! Weeds from underneath encumber and hinder the upward advance of berry vines. Sin does the same thing from underneath for upwardly aspiring human souls!
Therefore, if it behooves me to lay down a barrier against weeds for my berry vines as they reach for the sky, how much more does it behoove me to lay down a barrier against sin as I seek to grow ever Heavenly?!
I have now done the former. More than ever, I now intend to do the latter! Maybe you might consider doing the same.
Beware whatever brings you down. The consequences can be devastating!
SONG SOURCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Bring_Me_Down;
https://genius.com/Electric-light-orchestra-dont-bring-me-down-lyrics.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE:
https://biblehub.com/niv/hebrews/12.htm.
GREEK EXEGESIS:
https://biblehub.com/greek/2139.htm.
https://biblehub.com/greek/659.htm.