Big weeds, medium weeds and little weeds

At a Wednesday night testimony meeting, a woman shared her experience pulling weeds that taught valuable metaphysical lessons.

She recounted how a garden area at the boundary of her yard had overgrown in weeds this summer from neglect. In a burst of energy, she went out to pull the weeds and get the garden space back under control.

To her dismay, she found huge weeds occupying the grounds.  Some were as tall as she was!

She yanked out the behemoths, only to discover weeds around waist height still standing. The giant weeds had hidden from view medium sized weeds making their way up through the canopy.

So, she yanked out the medium sized weeds, only to discover hundreds of ankle high weeds emerging through their shadow. What a mess she found! But it was the price for the long neglect, she knew.

She persisted with her garden cleanup well into the evening and finished as the sun disappeared over the horizon.

In addressing where to start in prayer-treatment for healing of the human mind, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Remove the leading error or governing fear of this lower so-called mind, and you remove the cause of all disease as well as the morbid or excited action of any organ. You also remove in this way what are termed organic diseases as readily as functional difficulties.” 

“Remove the leading error…”  That’s what my friend did while cleaning up her garden. She reached for the biggest weeds first. They were the obvious and easiest to grab. But, to her surprise, once those big weeds were gone, there were still smaller ones to yank. The “leading error” was no longer the biggest weeds. It was the next biggest weeds. And then again, once the medium sized weeds were discarded, there were even smaller ones that needed to be removed. They were now the “leading error.” Once the big, medium and small weeds were gone, her garden space was salvaged, and the tomatoes and beans could flourish once again.

Likewise, in metaphysical treatment, we often have big, medium and small sized “weeds” to yank out to clear mental garden space of harmful intruders.  The obvious error noticed at first, is not always the only error that needs to go. It could be just the beginning of further mental hoeing.

So, don’t get discouraged if you have more weed-pulling to do! Jump in with gusto and yank the weeds until they are all gone—the big ones, the medium sized ones, and the smallest ones, until the mental garden space is cleared, and the good thoughts of Truth and Love can prosper and thrive once again.