Last summer when I was working at the seminary on grounds crew, I was put in charge of a special task. I was to oversee the labor of three other workers. We were suppose to clean up the yard for our new Dean of Student Life. There were a lot of different plants growing in a bed around the front of the house. My boss took me around and told me what plants were weeds and should be taken out and what plants were good and should stay. Now I am no green thumb. The only plant that I can identify on my own is a rose. After he explained to me for about five minutes what we were to do, I promptly forgot about half of it. So as not to embarrass myself by asking him to explain it all over again, I developed a plan. I remembered that a few plants were good. To make sure that we got all of the weeds we would pull everything else out. I know we got all the weeds but I know we got a bunch of good plants too.
That’s the problem. It is difficult to tell which plants are the good ones and which are the weeds even for some green thumbs.