Bubs and the garden

My husband is bound and determined to have a garden. We have mastered tomatoes, peppers, and onions. I must admit that I like the idea of gardening too until the dog days of summer set in and the weeding interferes with my lazy schedule. At that point, I am happy to just shop for my veggies. However, this week we had to get the onions in the ground and begin another season. My son headed straight over to the garden after school to level the area that had been plowed. He had his heavy duty rake and was smoothing everything out with nice, level strokes. My first job was to get us a snack together. My progress was interrupted when I heard our Jack Russell barking fiercely like a total maniac of a canine. I thought somebody was coming around the corner or maybe even a stray dog. I was wrong. The whole problem was the rake that Brazos was using. “Bubs” was crouched down in full blown attack mode barking and trying to “get” the rake. I don’t know what he wanted to get it for. The medal would not have been a good chew toy. When I got my rake and joined in, he did the same thing to me. I finally realized that Bubs did not see the rake as a plaything, but that he was afraid of it. He was going berserk. I wrestled to get him off of my rake. Brazos shooed him out of the garden and complained that his paw prints were destroying his work of art in the dirt and would affect the onions if we did not get control of the situation. (Trait inherited from his Father) I could not believe Bubs was afraid of a rake. I later heard my other son offer an explanation for our dog’s behavior. He said, “Bubs is afraid of anything that moves.” I thought to myself, one more thing that dogs have in common with people because most humans live in fear of something at all times. I don’t mean arachnophobia a or anything dramatic and fancy like that, but just fear of the unknown. We fear the economy, our future, our kids’ futures, cancer, what will happen next week, month, and year. We can live with full, outright fear or just worry over all of the details of life that are out of our control. Worry is just as bad as fear and can cripple us just as quickly. When our minds shift into worry mode or the even more severe fear mode, we have to do battle. It is full blown war to tame our own thoughts. The greatest weapon to conquer fear, worry, and every other negative thought pattern that threatens to take root in our minds is speaking the Word of God out loud. The Bible tells us “The Word of God is sharper than any two edge sword.” I believe it and this week we may need to cut out some of our thoughts and replace them with better ones. I love the verse in __________that simple says “Trust in the LORD and do not be afraid.” Another one that cuts the roots of worry to the core is “Why worry about tomorrow when today….”