The Devil’s Beggarticks In Your Life

I have declared all-out war on a native Florida weed invading my yard called the Devil’s Beggartick. It makes my life miserable when it goes to seed in the fall. Anyone passing by their barbed awns will have innumerable and most uncomfortable pokey hitchhikers until they reach their destination. This weedy nuisance does not discriminate sharing the abundance of its needly ticks. My dogs get them in their fur. My husband brings them in on his work boots. Reaching down anywhere close to the plants brings a healthy dose of itchy, pokiness. Devil’s Beggarticks are prolific at seed dispersal since they bloom proficiently and tend to be wide, leggy, and tall. Even if you do not live in Florida I bet you have seen the Devil’s Beggarticks somewhere in your life.

In The Beginning

The first time I saw Beggarticks was on a gloomy fall day. We were expecting rain and I was looking out the window. I noticed a group of unnamed weeds that had multiple little daisy-like flowers. The bees and butterflies were congregating in good numbers there, going from flower to flower. For that reason, I didn’t remove the unnamed small patch of weeds. Occasionally, I would watch the bees and butterflies landing on them. In the beginning, it seemed harmless to allow this flowering weed to remain in my life. In the seasons that followed though, I began noticing these annoying velcro-like pokey seeds in abundance. I did not connect these horrible little barbs to the cute little daisy-like flowers I let grow for bees and butterflies to enjoy. Unbeknownst to me, I invited the Devil’s Beggarticks into my life. It was just the beginning of my trouble with them.

Beggartick Invasion

Since I wasn’t too quick to connect the relation of the pokey little barbs to the cute little daisy-like flowers, it wasn’t long before I had a full-on Beggartick invasion in my yard. What I finally figured out was that the barbs were the seeds of the little daisy-like flowers. Talk about a light bulb moment! I had allowed their invasion unaware and that bites! This cute little weed had quickly developed a stronghold in my yard. One Devil’s Beggartick flower can produce an average of 50 seeds, also known as horrible little velcro barbs that make your life miserable. A single Beggartick plant can produce from 1,000 to 6,000 horrible little barbs to make your life miserable depending on the size of the plant. My rose-colored glasses fell off in an instant! Sorry bees and butterflies, I am waging war on the Devil’s Beggartick invasion of my yard.

Waging War On The Devil’s Beggarticks

Waging war on the Devil’s Beggarticks wouldn’t be easy considering I have an acre-sized yard. To complicate matters further, I have terrible sensitivity to chemical weed and insect interventions. I was way behind the eight ball in trying to control them. Beggarticks were all over my yard. Not just a small weed patch anymore, they were gaining ground by the minute. Their stronghold went unchallenged for too long. However outnumbered and behind I was, I began. I started by snipping off all the flowers, especially any that had gone to seed, and put them in a trash bag. After discarding the flowers and seeds, I pulled up the whole plant, roots and all, to burn. The work was tedious and time-consuming. I couldn’t stop their numbers this season, but armed with my new knowledge, I could put a huge dent in the next season. Beggartick War was on!

Revelation

As I was whole-heartedly waging war on the Devil’s Beggarticks in my yard, the Lord began to impart a revelation of the similar relationship that we have with sin in our hearts. At first, any tempting sin may look harmless, cute, and enjoyable, just like the cute little daisy-like flowers. Then due to that cute little sin, itchy, spiky barbs start popping up that make life miserable. Left unchecked due to ignorance of the cycle of sin (or Beggarticks), strongholds gain much ground in our hearts (or yards) affecting future seasons. Devil, you, and your Beggarticks have gotta GO! And while we are at it, any synonymous sin that is in my heart is no longer welcome either!

Repent and Correct

By the time we figure it out and begin waging war against the strongholds of sin in our hearts, or Beggarticks in our yard, our work is cut out for us. Acknowledging our wrong thinking and actions is always the first step in repenting and making corrections. However, we still have to deal with the effects of sin in our lives, like Devil’s Beggarticks in the yard. Knowledge is power and we don’t go the battles of life alone if we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The Lord gives us the stamina and weapons to bring down mighty strongholds in our hearts, our world, and even our own backyard.

Lesson Learned

Eventually, if we stay the course, we will walk out of sin and the Beggartick War victorious. I gained the awareness that sin, and even Beggarticks, look cute and innocent at first. Being able to identify the leaf of a Devil’s Beggartick plant before it blooms, I can uproot it before it goes to seed. I now have the wisdom to see my past sins in the beginning cute stages. I can turn and walk away from that sin in the infant thought stage before it takes root in my heart and becomes a problem. Thank God, Jesus paid the price for our forgiveness on Calvary, and in Heaven, there will be no Devil’s Beggarticks or sin to make us miserable. What are you doing with the Devil’s Beggarticks in the backyard of your life?

Correlating Scriptures

• Psalm 69:5(KJV) – “O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; my sins are not hid from thee.”
• Phillipians 4:13 (KJV) – “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:57 (KJV) – “But thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Ephesians 6:10-11 (KJV) – “Finally, my bretheren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand, against the wiles of the devil.”