As a relatively new gardner, I'm learning about the special summer fun of setting in a few flowers out front—geraniums, zinnias, petunias, begonias, and so on. But I'm also learning to deal with weeds. And I'm discovering that, if you don't stop these aggressive and fast-growing volunteers, they'll choke out your flowers in a matter of days!
Now, there are all sorts of surface ways to keep weeds from taking over your garden. You can cover them up or whack them down or spray some chemicals on them. But the best way to get rid of a weed is what you might call the "radical" way: to get a firm hold on it—and pull it up by the roots.
And it's the same way with conditions that seem to be choking all the beauty and love and freedom out of our lives. We can deal with these needs in some surface way. Or we can go to the root of the matter.
