Today’s scripture: Matthew 13:24-30 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (E’sha Cooper):
Matthew 13:30 — Let them both (the wheat and the tares) grow together?
Have you ever had one of those days? Better yet, one of those weeks, months, or years. I have. To be exact, 2013 was one of those years for me. Business was not as good as it had been in times past. My relationships were either really high or really low. My weight had peaked to the unmentionable, and my walk with God seemed often times rote and uneventful. When it’s just a day, you smile and say, ”Thank God that is over.” However, when trouble starts to get too comfortable in your space, it can have you questioning yourself, maybe even questioning God.
Today’s scripture reading is about the tares/weeds and the wheat. A farmer has sown some good seed in his garden. You can smell the loaves cooking already. Yet when he goes to check on his crops, shortly thereafter, he sees that not only does he have his wheat growing, but he also has weeds growing. Not his vision at all. Even his servants are disturbed so much that they are ready to uproot all the weeds, which, I imagine, would have been an intense act of labor. However, the gardener doesn’t uproot the weeds; he keeps them in his garden with his wheat. He is more concerned that uprooting the weeds will disturb, disrupt, and possibly totally damage his wheat plants. So he leaves them all be, the weeds and the wheat. They grow up together until harvest time.
Our lives are filled with wheat and weeds. Wheat is the spouse that you know God has sent to love you. Weeds are the challenges that try to destroy your marriage and love for each other. Keep growing. Wheat is the dream job that you prayed for and God gave to you. Weeds are the people on that job who don’t like you no matter what. Keep growing. Wheat is finally getting to go on that vacation you had planned for a year. Weeds are losing your luggage and not finding it until it’s time to go back home. Keep growing.
I know all the weeds of life can be discouraging and sometimes even seem down right unfair. Yet keep growing. I know the temptation may be to quit your marriage, loose control at your job, or give the airline staff a piece of your mind, but I tell you keep growing. Just like the farmer did not focus on the presence of the weeds, your Heavenly Cultivator, Almighty God, doesn’t focus on the weeds of your life. He is focused on you growing to maturity (v. 29). In spite of the presence of weeds, you can keep growing. The presence of weeds did not delay the harvest, or keep his wheat from growing; they only made the harvesting a little more work and forced the wheat to dig deeper and get stronger.
So when the weeds of life seem to plague your garden, don’t give up gardening. Brothers and sisters, dig deeper, wait for harvest time, and focus on the facts that your Heavenly Cultivator is preparing a feast and that your life is one of the main ingredients. Keep growing.
Prayer for the day: Holy Lord, help me remember that the presence of weeds in my life will not destroy the harvests of good in my life. Rather, they help me grow stronger and make my fruit more evident. Help me to keep growing. Amen.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.