Twenty years ago, Martha and I moved into our current house. We searched for months and finally selected our new home. While the house and lot were not ideal, we still felt good about what we had done.

The house itself was great. The previous owners built it only a few years before and lived in the house for only a year or so. Though the house was vacant for over a year, they left it in great shape. The outside was different entirely. They had built on a wooded lot and had barely touched it. A friend of mine who visited the house before we moved in described it this way: “Waylon, it’s as if someone built the house off site and brought it in by helicopter and set it down in the middle of the woods.” That’s exactly how it looked.

We immediately set out to conquer the forest and turn it into a lawn. After we did some initial clearing, we employed a landscaper to help us. He did a great job except for one curious decision. He suggested that we plant a wisteria vine. We jumped at the idea. Though we had never had any wisteria, we always admired it–lush, green leaves and beautiful purple blooms in the spring. Who could not like wisteria?

We soon discovered that we didn’t like wisteria. Oh, the vine was still lush and the flowers were still purple. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the vine grew like the vine in the Book of Jonah. Before long the vine had reached to the top our our very tall pine tree. At that point, we became concerned. When the vine grew from the top of the pine to the next tree, we knew that the wisteria had to go.

I took my trusty chain saw and cut the vine. The trees would be safe. All was well.

Not quite. Shortly thereafter, I noticed green sprouts in multiple locations, one even came up in the driveway! The roots of the vine continully sent up new shoots. For the last ten years, I have fought the wisteria vine in my yard. One of us will lose this battle–but I am not sure whether it will be me or the vine. At this point, I am fighting one solitary holdout. Who knows who will win?

I learned a valuable lesson. Be careful what you plant–in your yard or in your life. You will have to deal with the consequences of what you allow in. This is why Paul warned us to be careful about the love of money. The love of money is “a root of all kinds of evil” which will constantly send up shoots all around us. Your decisions–even seemingly innocents ones–have big consequences.

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