My wife, Kim,
takes pride in how our lawn looks. I do,
too, to a certain extent anyway, but not nearly the way Kim does.
Once a week, she
mows. Once a month she trims the bushes
in the front of the house. She has set
the sprinklers on a timer and waters regularly.
And today, we just got done pulling weeds.
Got me thinking
. . .
Remember the
Bible story about the wheat and the weeds? The Bible was more eloquent than I am and used
a different word for ‘weeds’, but for today, it serves my purpose.
As the story
went, the Lord made a decision that the wheat and the weeds would grow together
until harvest time. For farmers, that’s
a very finite amount of time. Once upon
a time, I drove a wheat truck in Wyoming during the summer. The farmers I worked for hoped that wind,
storms and hail would stay away until the wheat could get harvested. Sometimes it did, while other times . . .
But I find the
story curious: Why did the Lord allow the wheat and weeds to grow together? Did He think that somehow, someway, weeds
might turn into wheat? That somehow,
someway, wheat wouldn’t be choked out by the growth of weeds?
I mean, I look
at our lawn. In spite of Kim’s efforts,
there are patches of weeds that, while not ruining our lawn, certainly give it
a patchy, blotchy look. So, we
pull. We spray. We fertilize.
We water. We begin in the spring. We continue all summer long and into the
fall. There isn’t a harvest time for
grass as there is with wheat. So, Kim
and I do our thing until the cold and the snow make our grass go dormant. And we begin the process all over again come
spring.
It seems to me
that there are weeds among us.
In spite of our
very best efforts, weeds sprout in and amongst us. These weeds can take many forms. Negativity.
Meanness. Indifference. Snobbism. Cruelty. Perhaps a “holier than though”
attitude. Maybe even a “I’ve been here
for 42 years so . . .”
It doesn’t take
many of these weeds, these individuals, to bring down the rest. Sometimes, just associating with, just being
around these individuals can cause us to turn into weeds, to be like them. How many times do we find ourselves listening
in on a conversation of “Ain’t it awful!” only to become contributors? We might even become just as negative. And worse, we might pass that negativity on to
others.
So, like a
snowball rolling down a hill, the negativity grows. Eventually, the climate changes. Moods grow dark. There’s general
unhappiness. A lowering of morale.
So . . .
I’m not sure why the Lord allowed the wheat
and the weeds to grow together until harvest.
I guess if it were up to me, I’d throw them out. Tear them out at the root. Spray weed killer on them. I wouldn’t want them to poison the wheat . .
. the grass . . . the rest of us.
But it isn’t up
to me. Maybe. Perhaps.
I can do my part
to prevent weeds from growing in my life.
I can do my part to never be a weed to others. I can do my part to sow happiness. Kindness.
Gentleness. To bring a smile, a
laugh, instead of a frown or a tear. I
can be compassionate and caring. I can
listen and be patient. I think we all
can. Each of us. And in the end, our lives, the lives of
others, our world and where we work, might be better in the long run.
Perhaps that’s
why the Lord allowed the Weeds to grow Amongst the Wheat. Something to think about . . .
Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!