Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” (1 Cor. 16:13 NIV)

I’m not sure if Pastor Rick mentioned the word “tumbleweed” when he got to this verse on Sunday, or if it just popped into my head as he spoke, but suddenly I was whisked back to the old Sons of the Pioneer hit song by Bob Nolan, a cowboy tune that I listened to years ago (and it was years ago!), “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.”

See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I'll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

A rather romanticized look at the unattached, solitary, drifting tumbleweed, to be sure. A more realistic picture is given by Judy Henning at http://phoenix.about.com/od/desertplantsandflowers/a/tumbleweed.htm

“The tumbleweed is often thought of as the symbol of the American West. Actually, it isn't native to North America at all, but was brought to this country (unintentionally) by Ukrainian farmers. The tumbleweed really is a weed, and its real name is the Russian thistle. Tumbleweeds aren't considered as having any redeeming value except for the fact that they are interesting to watch as they tumble about… [It] is a round, bushy, plant that grows to about 3 feet. At maturity it breaks off at the base and because it is rounded, it tumbles in the wind. There is a natural purpose to this tumbling--the tumbleweed can produce up to 250,000 seeds, and the tumbling serves to spread those seed wherever it tumbles, guaranteeing that there will be more tumbleweeds in the future… Don't try to catch a tumbling tumbleweed. Ouch!!”

According to Judy and other experts, the tumbleweed is truly that – a weed, and a thistly, unfriendly one at that. A curiosity that’s of little real use. And it likes to make more of its own kind!

I think Paul is warning us against becoming (or remaining) tumbleweeds, with our only redeeming value being that we’re interesting to watch as we tumble about. It’s so easy to tumble from church to church, relationship to relationship, job to job. We even tumble from spiritual highs to spiritual lows and back again, constantly, like spiritual boomerangs. Sometimes these changes are good, or at least unavoidable… but not always. And not as a pattern. Often they’re the product of our restlessness, rootlessness, carnality and selfishness. Ouch!

Rather, Paul urges us to “Stand firm. Let God dig that tumbleweed disposition out of you. Root yourselves in the Word and soak up something valuable that God can use to nourish those around you. Bloom exactly where you are planted.”

Then when the high winds come, we’ll remain where God put us, doing what He called us to do. And instead of tumbling about and making more tumbleweeds like ourselves, we’ll be encouraging others to stand firm, too – more like that steadfast believer described in Ps. 1:3…

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither” (NIV). That’s no romanticized ideal. It’s really possible for tumbleweeds today.