A wise person will know when calling in the professionals is the right thing to do.

There are times when, out of laziness, calling in the professionals can be too soon. Without exerting much effort, that person instead opts to go straight to receiving help. 

If money is not an issue, why struggle with something that you’re not an expert in? 

Another reason to go straight to calling in the professionals is that the time and the frustration make outsourcing the more economical way to go. 

I’ve never taken either of these approaches. In fact, I usually err on the side of waiting too long before calling in the professionals. Whether I have the skill and equipment or not, I will usually try to tackle problems on my own until I have completely run into a brick wall. But that’s me.

The other day I was talking with my neighbour and he said to me, “I’m raising the white flag.” 

I replied, “What? What do you mean?” 

It was his lawn that he was surrendering to – the weeds, to be specific. 

He just can’t get them under control. The other day when he drove up to his house and saw dandelions the size of cedars covering his lawn, that was the last straw.

He called the Weed Man, the professionals. 

He was telling me all this because he has had a number of conversations with my wife, Lily, about the weed problem both our lawns have. I think they have discussed all kinds of military sanctions and ops against the weeds on our lawns but to no avail. 

The weeds seem to be gaining ground and, for fear that they will start showing up between the cracks in the hardwood floors in our living rooms, something had to be done. 

He has called in the professionals. 

When I mentioned it to Lily she said, “Oh, that’s not a bad price. Maybe we should call in the professionals too.” 

At that point, I had a flashback to my growing up years.

I grew up with a backyard that would take me about an hour and a half to cut each time … unless I let the grass get too long and then the cutting would most certainly go into extra innings. 

I remember each spring looking out over the backyard at a continuous field of yellow flowers. Some people call them dandelions, but back then I had hoped that my parents would see this beautiful long-stemmed floral field as a cash crop or something. 

No such luck. I still had to mow them down each week.

For years we didn’t do anything about them, until one day the weed man talked to my dad. My father thought that, because they never seeded the lawn after the house was built, all the grass we had was weeds. He didn’t want to kill the whole lawn.

The weed man assured my dad that only the little yellow broadleaf dandelions would be eradicated. 

It was then that we began having a green lawn. … Maybe it’s time to call in the professionals ourselves.

Here’s the thing: We often try to solve our problems, issues and irritants on our own before we call on God. We usually wait too long before giving up on our own efforts and asking God for help. Don’t wait until you have to raise the white flag. Call on the Lord early when you discover something that needs to be addressed in your life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been trying to deal with for too long on your own? Leave your comments and questions below.

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