A few years ago my son decided to have a back yard garden and raise vegetables and herbs.

The first year he found out that the rabbits like to eat from the garden as much as he did so he lost a lot of his crop to the rabbits.

The next year he put up a fence that kept the rabbits out and experienced much better results for his labor. As he was showing me all of his green beans, carrots, straw berries and herbs I asked him about a plant growing next to his rabbit fence.

He told me that there was another one like it toward the back of his garden and he supposed, by their appearance, that they were herbs.

We took a closer look and they did have the appearance of other herbs in his garden with a very slight difference in the blooms that were forming.

I then remembered the same plant growing in my mulch beds at home and realized that it was a week that was blooming and ready to multiply.

My son then knew to pull it out and stop it from robbing nutrients from the soil that were needed by the vegetables and herbs.

Though I do not have a lot of experience with an herb garden, I realized that it can have a lot of relevance to our everyday life.

Sometimes there are things in our life that we need to guard against like the rabbits in the garden by building a barrier between us and them. Other times there are things in our life that we mistake for peace and happiness and all the while they are robbing us of our life sustaining substance. How do we recognize the things that we need to guard against and isolate ourselves from? Can there be a way to tell the difference between the good and the bad when they look so similar?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 West Court St. in Washington C.H.