Boston Ivy

A Lesson Learned: by Robin Thomas

I love a good garden, fragrant flowers, bird baths, garden statues etc., but I’m not crazy about the maintenance. I realize that it is a necessary evil, and I don’t mind getting dirty, but the ‘not so fun’ part is pulling weeds. They seem to come up at an accelerated rate compared to the plants that you actually planted.

I was working on some of that ‘not so fun’ maintenance when I realized that one of my Indian Hawthorne plants was completely covered in Boston Ivy, (funny name since it apparently originated in Japan).

Anyway, Boston Ivy is a fast growing vine that is tremendously resistant. It is used in building projects to grow up the side of walls because it doesn’t damage the structure. It is also used a lot in places where people want to cover a lot of ground with little to no attention. It does well in poor soil and can grow in shade to full sun so it is really hard to kill if you don’t want it there, namely in my garden.

It had completely wrapped itself around the base of the Indian Hawthorne plant. It literally strangled it. A few branches were peeking out the top. It was so deeply rooted that it took me about 45 minutes to dig up the source of the vine and in the process I had to cut away some of the Indian Hawthorne plant.

Boston Ivy is like a bad habit, aka “sin” that you are trying to cut out of your life. Your own personal “Boston Ivy” might be overeating, bad language, carbs, telling little white lies or being unreliable. And you tell yourself, “ It is not like they are the “big sins” like, Thou shalt not Murder, or Thou shalt not steal, right? (as if sin had degrees)

These bad habits are the happiness squelching, joy limiting barriers that keep us from enjoying the best life that God has to offer.

In Ezra 9:6 he says, “I prayed,’O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens.’”

These bad habits do not keep us from being saved, but they do keep us from feeling close to a Holy God. Bad habits take a lot of hard work to break, but the incentive is freedom from what enslaves you.

”They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.” 2 Peter 2:19

The Boston Ivy took a lot of work to cut away from the Indian Hawthorne. It took some muscle and grit to dig out the source of it, but I couldn’t get the deep roots. At some point the Boston Ivy will regrow, just like bad habits have a tendency to resurface, but I will be on guard to dig it up again, and each time I do, it will be a little easier to eradicate.

“It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up.” –Vince Lombardi

The good news is that you don’t have to do any of this alone, the Holy Spirit is up for the challenge, just ask Him!