I cleared a lot of brush last fall, so this spring I saw the PI when it was just creeping out. . . attack! I had a fence replaced (I’m officially an adult, because I’m so stinking excited about this new fence) and I’m not letting anything grow on it. . . attack!

Now I see it everywhere I run – at first because it was hidden among large leafy greens and flowers, but then it become so much and all over everything with its twisty vines and shiny leaves that I couldn’t NOT see it.

---

Get the roots.

My chiropractor and I were talking about poison ivy one day (because that’s what we do, talk about home maintenance), and I told him about cutting it all back. With a gleam in his eye, he told me to follow the roots to get rid of it all.

What can I clean out that’s hidden in ME? What roots are still taking hold in my life?

Here’s the thing: they might be hidden from my eyes, but nothing is hidden from God’s eyes:

“O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.” Psalm 69:5 ESV

“For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.” Jeremiah 16:17 ESV

The roots may be tiny and not evident to the naked eye, but they still have a lasting impact: “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8 ESV

And He’ll reveal to us what needs to be dug up from the roots.

---

Can’t Touch This

I hope the song is going through your head right now 🙂

Yes, I attack at the roots, but I don’t grab it without wearing gloves, longs sleeves, and long pants. I don’t want it to touch my skin and leave itchy evidence.

We’re called to do the same when we see “poison ivy” in the lives of those we encounter. 

• “But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.” Acts 14:2 ESV
• “They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the fields.” Hosea 10:4 ESV
• Deuteronomy 29:17-19

---

But, we’re also called to love and interact with people. So. . . how do I act when I see “poison ivy” in others?

This is going to sounds like a simple “Sunday School” answer, but it’s true: We pray for them. Here’s how I learned this:

Last year I became a students’ parents’ least favorite teacher. I don’t know why. My principal didn’t know why. I was treated in a manner that was new to me, and it threw me for a loop because the situation wouldn’t go away. (Eventually my principal shut it down. . . I’m so thankful for her!) My comments and explanations weren’t enough. The conference wasn’t enough. But through it all, I knew I couldn’t reveal any of this angst to their child who sat in my classroom every other day. So I prayed for the parents, because something other than me was at the root of it all. And I prayed for the student, because there’s no way this “poison ivy” wasn’t coming up in their home.

The situation didn’t get resolved, but it did go away. I’m no longer threatened by the touch of that vine. Although I didn’t “attack” the parents (oooh, God tames my tongue when I need it), I did “attack” through prayer. . . which is much more powerful than my shovel and poison ivy spray.