TO the novice in Christian Science the question frequently comes, "Why do I have so much to meet that I never noticed before?" and sometimes the query is accompanied by the statement that it was really easier in the old way. It was once my duty to care for a lawn. It seemed in good condition—looked as well as most in the block; so I gave it the usual care and was very well satisfied. One day, however, it became apparent to me that several bunches of coarse grass were also thriving lustily under my care. But what was the use of bothering to dig them up. Frequent mowing kept them from showing very much, and as some of the neighbors had a much larger crop my few could be left undisturbed. Yet, after once seeing that alien grass, it was hard to ignore it. It seemed to grow so quickly after each cutting; and try as I would, I could no longer look at the lawn without seeing the intruder. What a mistake to suppose that to ignore the grass would keep it from growing and marring the lawn. It must be uprooted. This decision reached, I rushed pell-mell at the task and began pulling; but not with the expected result. Something more was needed, for of myself I was not able to remove the grass. A neighbor, seeing my ineffectual effort, realized my need and supplied me with an implement which enabled me to do the work in the right way.
The big grass was soon gone, but the sward was not as clean as I had anticipated. In doing the work it had been necessary to look more closely at the lawn, and to my astonishment I found a large number of weeds in it. Was it worth while to remove them? They certainly had not shown before, or I should have seen them; so what harm did they do? Furthermore, it was rather discouraging to find a lawn full of weeds when I had just pulled out all that had seemed to disfigure it. Still, most of them seemed small, and it would not be much trouble to remove a few at least. Their smallness, though, did not make them easy to pull; often they had to be separated from the clover with great care, and it required time and patience. The amount of damage they were doing to the clover was also amazing, and wherever they were taken out only a bare spot remained. It was evident that if I wished a truly clean lawn, I must earnestly and systematically go to work and uproot all that in any way marred it.
Yet to know what marred was not always easy. At some stages of growth the Weeds so closely resembled the clover that it was difficult to tell them apart. At such times it was only my knowledge of clover and its characteristics which enabled me to distinguish between them. Then there were such beautiful blossoms on those weeds, that when dainty white flowers fairly smiled up into my face, it seemed hard to destroy them. But every flower meant seed; seed, more weeds; more weeds, no clover; so blossom, plant, and root had to go. The removal of the roots was the difficult work, for they were not always where the weeds seemed to indicate and frequently had to be searched for, only to be found hidden securely away in a most unexpected place.
