Weeding in a jurisdiction that has outlawed herbicides can be a monumental chore, and dandelions can become monuments to weed supremacy in a lawn or garden, if not vigilantly and persistently dug out root by root. For anyone unfamiliar with this weed, here is a description from Scotts Lawn Library.

“Dandelions are a broadleaf perennial that can grow in any soil and are most numerous in full sunlight. In the early spring, new sprouts will emerge from the taproot, which can be 2 to 3 feet deep in the soil. They grow yellow flowers that mature and turn into white puffballs that contain seeds that spread with the wind to other lawns. Even though they disappear in the fall, the taproot survives deep in the soil to start the cycle again in the spring. To keep dandelions out of your yard, this root has to be killed.”

One morning, even while I pitted brain and brawn against dandelions threatening the grass, my spirit was praying for various persons and situations. As I prayed and weeded, the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) interjected, “Dandelions are like sin. Sin is like dandelions.” In a few minutes I had received an object lesson on the similarities between dandelions and sin.

Both can have deep roots that hide ‘underground’, escaping detection for a long time. Hebrews 15:15 says of certain sins, “Be careful that no one falls short of the grace of God, so that no root of bitterness will spring up to cause trouble and defile many.”

Both grow wild at the expense of the cultivated plants, which they eventually kill and displace if not weeded out. Matthew 13:7 describes the enmity of thorny weeds against good seed like this: “Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them out.”

Both produce blooms that may for a season appear bright and appealing, until they spawn the wind-blown nuisance that spreads their contamination far and wide. Hebrews 11:25 mentions the short-sighted appeal of enjoying “the pleasures of sin for a season.”

Both are antagonistic to the gardener’s efforts to produce a good crop – whatever the gardener’s crop might be – grass, vegetables, ornamentals, or righteousness. Hosea 10:12 encourages, “Plant a crop of righteousness for yourselves.” Then Matthew 13 (Yeshua’s Parables chapter) relates at verses 24-26: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while the men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. Now when the stalk sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared.”

When the gardener’s crop is watered and fertilized, the dandelions steal the nutrients from the cultivated plants, growing faster, overshadowing and eventually destroying them. As in Yeshua’s parable, they ‘choke out’ the cultivated plants. Then, having stunted or eliminated the desired crop, the dandelions – like sin – can bear no good fruit to replace what they destroy.

Like sin, dandelions must be dug out from the roots and thrown away; otherwise they will simply grow back. As Matthew 5:29 warns in very graphic terms, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

Finally, like sin, the dug-up roots can be put to good use. In the natural, their extract has been found to have medicinal qualities (look up ‘dandelion root benefits’). Spiritually, the digging out of sin (for example, roots of bitterness) and the extraction of lessons from examining those roots can also bring healing, wholeness and resistance to further sin (weed-resistance).

Recently, my neighbour’s young son seemed inclined to try his hand at weeding since it seemed to be taking me such a long time. In a short while he moved across a portion of our shared lawn, picking off all the yellow dandelion blooms that he could see. Not wanting to disregard his efforts, I waited till he was off to school the next day before completing the job. The pile of dandelions that I dug out from his weeded portion that morning, complete with their roots, is pictured at right above. Now they will not grow back!