I fired my lawn service again last year.
After 5 years or so, my lawn wasn't any better and I was getting even more weeds.
"You just have to water it more," the service kept saying while my neighbors' yards looked beautiful.
So the new guys came in, very confident in their approach.
They recommended aeration, fertilization and something new...a compost top dressing.
The top dressing layer would be applied in the fall, about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of rich organic matter to complement aeration and over seeding.
The lawn got off to a good start in late spring and summer.
The grass looked more consistent, although the same thin spots and patches of crab crass were there.
Then the weeds roared back in August.
"What are you going to do about this?" I asked. "It looks worse than before with all the weeds?"
The lawn guy confidently held his ground and explained his process.
"Sir, we're about to aerate and over-seed your lawn. We can't put down weed killer or we'll hurt the new grass that germinates."
Sounded like same-old, same-old to me, but he persisted.
"Sir, you have to think about what makes healthy grass. If you don't have a good base layer of soil throughout for healthy roots, then you'll never get out of this cycle. You'll have just what you have now. Patches of good grass and patches of bad. Its your lawn, but this is what I recommend."
I still didn't see how this would get rid of weeds. Wouldn't they just grow faster and healthier too?
But no.
Two months later, with a new base of soil and over seeding, the lawn looks fabulous.
And the darn weeds have been crowded out by...healthy grass.
I honestly would never have believed it.
A strong base helps the good thrive together and crowd out the bad. Just turn in your bible to the gospel of Mark, chapter 4 and read Jesus' parable of the farmer sowing seed.
But what got the job done for me? This young man was steadfast in his belief that a firm foundation would conquer the weeds. He risked his lively hood by NOT telling me what I wanted to hear.
"Sir, you could do it your way, but you'll just continue in the cycle that you have now..."
We have to be willing to tell people the Truth of the Gospel.
"Sir, Ma'am, you will not fix hate, envy, pride and corruption with weed control alone."
You must first build up the healthy layer of humility, honesty, mercy, forgiveness...and Grace.
We see ever encroaching patches of unhealthy philosophies. Thin layers of false hope. Ugly bare spots where past experiments have failed and withered - with nothing left to even build on.
Sir, Ma'am, without Jesus, we will simply continue in the ever worsening cycle we are in now.
With him, we are only a season away from renewal. I've seen it with my own eyes.
What do you believe?
