Weed Whacking

“He proposed another parable for them. The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.” Matthew 13: 24-26

Can you guess what I did the other day? That’s right, I was weed whacking. And not with one of those fancy, powerful, gas powered string machines (mine is broken), but with an old fashioned woodened-handled bush whacker with a blade at the end like the Grim Reaper. I have a hill on my property that I can’t reach with the lawn tractor and my push mower is on the mend too. So the only way to control the foliage is to whack those weeds. So there I was, back and forth, up and down, hour after hour, whacking those stubborn weeds. And I learned a few things.

First of all, no matter how sharp the blade is, some weeds are just going to bend rather than get cut. Secondly, the more weeds there are together in a cluster, the harder it was to cut them and whack them down. Finally, weeds have deep roots and despite my efforts, they will be back. Talk about discouraging.

I also began thinking about how our lives get weeds in them as well. Perhaps the weeds come in the form of our sins and bad decisions and begin to take root in our hearts and souls and choke-out room for new growth in the Spirit. Sometimes other people cause the weeds to grow: weeds of hurt and pain, weeds of loneliness and abandonment, or weeds of neglect. Finally, weeds grow in our hearts and souls due to things out of our control: sickness or disease, accidents, physical, emotional or mental pain. Things that happen to us that we did not ask for and have no control of stopping and those weeds of discouragement, despair and hopelessness begin to grow in us and cloud our minds and obscure our view.

The problem is that we try to pull those weeds out or try to cut them down by ourselves. We think we should be strong enough to get rid of them. Or we think if we just put enough thought, energy and effort into it, they would be gone forever. But weeds like the ones I just mentioned require more than our feeble power. For even if we were to whack some of them down, they would certainly come back. No, the reality is that you and I need a Divine Cultivator; a Savior to whack down the weeds, then pull out the roots, clear the soil, put in fertilizer and weed prevention and then plant good seeds to replace the weeds and leave no room for them to grow again. Thank goodness we already do. His name is Jesus. If only we would go to Him let Him take control of our lives.

Dear Jesus, help me to recognize the weeds in my life and to let You cut them down and pull them out and make me new again today. Amen.