{"id":1744,"date":"2012-10-30T21:45:17","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T01:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/?p=1744"},"modified":"2012-10-30T22:14:35","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T02:14:35","slug":"how-not-to-remove-kudzu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/?p=1744","title":{"rendered":"How Not to Remove Kudzu"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a crooked tree in our backyard.\u00a0\u00a0It’s my fault.\u00a0 When it was very young, I transplanted it from where it ought not be, to a place where it could grow nice and tall.\u00a0\u00a0Then a year or two later, in an overzealous\u00a0effort to free it from an evil clingy kudzu vine, I broke the top out of it, leaving it damaged.\u00a0 I should have been more gentle in my attempt to free it from the vine’s choking clutches.\u00a0 Instead, I let my temper flair.\u00a0 I was mad at the kudzu and determined to free the tree my<\/em> way.<\/p>\n

That was\u00a0several years ago when the tree was a baby and just starting to grow.\u00a0 The tree is\u00a0older now.\u00a0 Its thickening trunk and limbs are\u00a0strong and free of kudzu.\u00a0\u00a0Even if the kudzu were to start an invasion, the tree would be able to withstand determined attempts to yank it from the branches.\u00a0\u00a0But it still bares the scar\u00a0of the day when it was young, just starting to grow, with tender branches reaching for the heavens.\u00a0 In my haste and anger, I played the part of the zealot.\u00a0 I will always see the result in the crooked tree, and\u00a0regret it.\u00a0 Perhaps I have a little kudzu of my own to deal\u00a0with.<\/p>\n

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 – Galations 6:1\u00a0 NKJV<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a crooked tree in our backyard.\u00a0\u00a0It’s my fault.\u00a0 When it was very young, I transplanted it from where it ought not be, to a place where it could grow nice and tall.\u00a0\u00a0Then a year or two later, in an overzealous\u00a0effort to free it from an evil clingy kudzu vine, I broke the top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[249,250,248],"class_list":["post-1744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consider","category-misc","tag-gentleness","tag-overzealous","tag-tree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1744"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1760,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744\/revisions\/1760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}