A few months ago, we were getting our backyard ready to have a wedding there. (Thanks, COVID....) Our backyard is full of railroad ties that were placed to terrace the yard, build stairs, etc. They were really popular twenty-thirty years ago when the yard was designed. They are now old, disgusting, rotting, etc. But especially UGLY. They are still functional (well, most of them), but they were not really up to par for wedding decor.
Because we wanted the yard to look a little nicer for the wedding, Scott pulled out the railroad tie stairs and put in brick stairs. (Broke his finger doing that, but that's another story. You can still tell which ones he did and which ones I tried to finish- the ones I did have all fallen over. Oops.) That looked so much nicer that I tore out a few other railroad ties that seemed more in the way than functional. We made a pile of debris next to the garage, and once we had most of the manual labor done in the backyard, I started making trips to the dump.
As Anna and I loaded up the van for what seemed like the gazillionth time (seriously, the lady at the dump recognized us by the end.... so embarrassing), we started having trouble with the railroad ties. The ones that had been stairs were small and we could easily load them. However, the ones that had been for terracing were really big and heavy. We decided that maybe if we tried to cut them into smaller pieces, we'd be able to move them more easily. We cut with a saw as well as prying pieces that were loose off with shovels. We finally made progress getting them into the van.
However, we dropped one that we had cut and shoveled. When we picked it back up, I found a little pile of live termites on the ground where it had landed. We put it back down and stomped on them. Then I sprayed a TON of spider killer on the tie and the surrounding area. (I had no idea if that would kill termites, but it was all I had, so I figured it was better than nothing.) We then got rid of all the debris and finished our trips to the dump.
We made the yard look nice for the wedding. But we also learned something. We need to start systematically getting rid of ALL the railroad ties in the yard- not just the ones that were in the way for the wedding. If we hadn't tried to cut and shovel the one that we dropped, we wouldn't have learned that there was a danger lurking there. Now we know, and we can take steps to eliminate the problem before it becomes an actual problem. (So far they are happy in the railroad ties. But that won't last forever, and then they could move to the house.)
We have spiritual termites, too. We can't see them, and there may or may not be any evidence of them on the outside. But they are there. Fortunately, Heavenly Father has already told us how to eliminate the problem before it causes serious danger. He gave us a prophet to follow. If we follow the prophet and do what he asks us to do (the FIRST time) with a good attitude, we will begin systematically removing all our spiritual termites.
We may not see any outward differences, but it will feel better and we will have the comfort of knowing we are safe. Just a thought.
