Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. Prov 19:2 (NLT)
The Hedge and Haste Mistakes
We’re in the middle of renovating our little beach shack, and it’s pretty exciting. We’ve been dreaming about this since we bought the house nearly six years ago! We’ve had ideas; we’ve made plans, and we’ve often talked about how we can make this little old house a beautiful home. And now that the time is here, I just want to get it done. The first thing we did was put in a lovely double driveway. Next to that driveway was a bare strip of land where we wanted to plant a hedge. I got all excited, and just went for it. I found a hedge on Gumtree (an eBay-like site), bought it while I was out at dinner one night, and committed to transplanting it to my bare strip of land. I am not a gardener and I have never really been able to keep a plant alive. On purpose anyway.
Two days later, Jesse and I had to travel an hour away to dig up said hedge (21 plants in all) and transport them back to our place where we would then dig holes for them and replant.
Easy, right?
I thought it would take a couple of hours and at the end of it all, we would have a lush hedge and the envy of our neighbours.
The day we left to go and dig up the plants turned out to be hottest spring day we’ve had in years. We had no idea how to transplant this hedge successfully or what nutrients and supplements we could give it to help it take and grow. After we nearly died spending the whole day replanting them, that night the wind got a bit cheeky and pulled some of our newly planted shrubs out of their roughly dug holes… fast forward two weeks and the hedge is barely hanging in there. They are a dry rusty red rather than a healthy glowing green and we’re hoping that our haste in buying and planting them doesn’t waste them.
Or our money.
Or our time.
My Grandfather used to say “the devil is in the details.” Details aren't evil, but overlooking them invites all kinds of trouble into the situation.
The Message Bible says, “Haste makes waste…” What a great line to memorise and recite. Write down the time of that appointment, read ALL the instructions, research that appliance, read the fine print on your insurance policy, don’t assume to know the full story from a short soundbite. FIGURE OUT HOW TO TRANSPLANT A HEDGE AND LOOK AT WHAT THE WEATHER IS DOING BEFORE YOU DIVE RIGHT ON IN. You’ll save time, energy and money by valuing the details.
And on a deeper level, don’t be hasty with others… don’t assume the worst, don’t let threads of gossip paint whole pictures, don’t let one bad day ruin a lifetime of friendship, don’t let a challenging season destroy a marriage, don’t make quick judgements on people with long-term heartaches… look into hearts and eyes, look for the why, the detail, the story… take the time. It will make all the difference for you and others.
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