Such a day in March is just the time to do that. March is the “naked truth” time of the year. Things can be seen in March that can’t be seen the rest of the year, things hidden by green grass, tree leaves, heat induced laziness and our own busyness. By March though, the grass has gone limp and been matted down by snow, the leaves are not there to hide what’s underneath, and the stark sunshine probes deep, all the way to the ground.
I took my pruning stick and began nipping away stems of unwanted bushes and briars around our pond. In the heat of last summer, when just keeping the grass mowed between rain storms was an arduous task, I was willing to turn my head from these few little leaves along the pond bank. But in the stark light of March, I can see what they’re up to. It’s not one stem; it is a dozen stems! It’s not just a foot high; it’s 3 feet high! It’s not just that one scrub bush, it is briars and weeds and even some poison ivy vines slinking along the ground. And they are swelling. They are massing brigades at their stemmy borders. They are ready to reach for the heights this season.
Now I can see. Now it’s clear what furtive plans they have. Well, on this sunny day, when the Ides of March are raising their ominous hackles, I for one am acknowledging the naked truth---- and doing something about it. Clip, clip, clip to you Mr. Transgressor! You shall not advance just now. Yes, I know you will still be there. I know you will push forward wherever you can push forward, but today I have punched the “reset button.” It shall not be business as usual for you.
Is this not the business of Lent? God’s business and our business? It is the most stark time of the year, a time for the naked truth about us, and about God. There is no hiding in the Lenten story of Gods love. We cannot hide from what we are and how we have allowed brush and brambles to grow where they should not be growing in our lives. This too, is the season of the stark love of Jesus hanging on a cross. It will not be hidden any longer. It is there for all to see.
A post script to my March pruning madness: what I was never able to see before today amid the brambles and brush there on the shore of our pond. There nestled under all this unwanted clutter was a beautiful, young arborvitae bush. Somehow, it had the courage and tenacity to sprout and hold its own in that very scruffy setting. It will be a wonderful addition to that shoreline.
