Before the end of the school year, environmental science classes spent a class period outside in Our Creators Classroom, the wooded nature area on the campus of our high school, identifying different species. Two of the organisms they were tasked with finding were 1) poison ivy and 2) an invasive species. Their ability to identify the first was an obvious necessity in order to avoid the misery of an itchy rash. The second was less obvious, but just as important.
Oftentimes these invasive species are brought in on purpose. We like the beauty of the flowers or how quickly they grow. It isn’t till later that the true consequences of your actions come and you find yourself digging honeysuckle bushes out of your flower beds for the next 10 years. That once pretty and sweet smelling bush is now the bane of your existence. Invasive species are often able to become invasive because they have no natural predators to keep them under control. They outcompete the native species for resources, stealing nutrients and taking up large amounts of space.
What items in your own life have taken over? Has your morning coffee run consumed more of your time and money than what you initially intended? Has your screen time crept so high that you spend more time scrolling than sleeping or spending time with family and friends? These things aren’t always as easy to identify as large invasive honeysuckle bushes covering your yard, but are just as important for us to identify so they don’t consume our lives, leaving little space for all of the good things.
A Prayer for Today
Heavenly Father,
Guide our lives so that we might recognize all that is invasive within our own lives. Let us not be overcome with evil, but overcome it with good (Romans 12:21). Let us become rooted in your word so that we can grow in the grace and knowledge of you, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
Amen