As the Weeds Grow

On a beautiful sunny morning, I invited my almost eight-year-old granddaughter, Vicki, to walk with me near a lake, which is actually a water reservoir for our beautiful city.

We walked happily, listening to the soft noise of the crystal clear brook running alongside our path.
The path was lined with beautiful green trees and sweet-scented flowers.
We could hear birds singing.

I asked my blue-eyed, cheerful, and innocent granddaughter how she was preparing for baptism.

She answered with a question: "Grandpa, what is sin?"

I silently prayed for inspiration and tried to respond as simply as I could: "Sin is the intentional disobedience to God's commandments.
It makes Heavenly Father sad, and its results are suffering and sadness."

Clearly concerned, she asked me, "And how does it get us?"

The question first reveals purity, but it also reveals a concern for how to avoid involvement with sin.

For her to understand more clearly, I used the natural elements we had around us as an illustration.
Continuing down our path, we found by the side of a barbed-wire fence a stone post of considerable size; it was a heavy structure with flowers, bushes, and little trees growing around it.
Over time these plants would become bigger than the post itself.

I remembered that a little farther down the path, we would find another post that had already been taken over little by little, almost unnoticed, by the vegetation that grew around it.
I imagine that a post would not perceive that, despite its strength, it could be encompassed and destroyed by fragile plants.
The post would have thought, "No problem.
I am strong and big, and this small plant will do me no harm."

So as a nearby tree grows bigger, the post does not notice at first; then the post starts enjoying the shade the tree provides.
But the tree continues to grow, and it encircles the post with two branches that at first seem fragile but that in time intertwine and surround the post.

Still the post does not realize what is happening.

Soon, in our walk, we found the proverbial post.
It had been plucked out from the ground.
My little granddaughter looked and impressed and asked me, "Grandpa, is this the tree of sin?"

I then explained to her that it was only a symbol, or an example, of how sin gets us.

I don't know what the effect of our conversation will be on her, but it made me think of the many faces of sin and of how it sneaks into our lives if we allow it to.

-Jairo Mazzagardi -Avoiding the Trap of Sin -October 2012 General Conference

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi