It”s fall so gardeners are transplanting flowers, dividing bulbs, sowing flower seed for next year. It is clean-up time too. Time to remove grass, debris etc so spring will explode with beauty and not in the middle of trash.

A few weeks ago I was doing the fall cleaning and replanting. I had dug up a bed of bulbs to replant. There was a woodpile that had almost completely rotted. I was putting the last few pieces of wood that hadn’t disintegrated into the front end loader of the tractor. I planned to take them to the field and burn them. I thought all the rotted wood made great mulch and I would plant a new flower bed.

As I went deeper into the pile, I thought I’d better get the nice big shovel Baxter had bought. This time of year, I was likely to find a copperhead under one of those pieces of wood. So I went and got the shovel.

About the third or fourth dig, out came 4, yes 4 snakes! I looked hard at them and decided they weren’t king snakes but they were brown with markings…I couldn’t be sure, so into the house I went to get Baxter. I needed reinforcements. I said, “Come quick! I’ve uncovered a nest of snakes.” Baxter came up out of the recliner saying, “Gwen, How did you do that?!”

I went back out, dug down again. Out came 4 more snakes! This time I was ready. I chopped snakes every which way I could. There were snake pieces everywhere. One snake kept striking at us despite the fact he had been cut in half. I told Baxter to smash that snake’s head. We didn’t need a snake bite.

So I dug down again and 3 snakes came out. Dug one last time and out came 4. This time I had gotten down to the eggs. One egg still had a snake in side. I had no idea snakes laid so many eggs.

I should have already removed that old wood, but children of the 1930s depression raised me and Baxter…we couldn’t be sure we wouldn’t “need” that wood. So I’d left it too long I guess. I hadn’t cleaned up something that potentially could bring harm. I hadn’t been diligent. My garden had become a safe haven for evil to thrive.

It’s unnerving to uncover a nest of snakes, especially that many. Immediate action had to be taken. The potential was staggering. All 16 of those snakes possibly laying 16 eggs and those laying 16 eggs…well you get the picture.

I”d made one mistake. No need to make things worse by not eradicating danger. Especially something that had so much potential.

I’ve been trying to apply this to my heart. What have I allowed to just lie around and not clean up? What kind of heart rubbish do I need to get rid of?