Weeds

It is a tremendous struggle in life not to draw lines
between what we accept and what we reject. Maybe right
now, the “thems” in our lives are Muslims or Iraqis or the
Taliban. Perhaps we would weed out all Democrats or
Republicans or liberal or conservative Catholics. Maybe we
would want to get rid of the good ol’ boys or the strident
feminists. The possibilities, of course, are endless, and we
each have our own particular “weeds” that we would pull up
to be burned.
Fortunately, the task of separating the wheat from the
weeds, we are told, does not belong to us! We are spared the
chore of making such judgments! In fact, the awesome
responsibility of judging belongs to ONE more skilled - and
more generous - than us. Our God knows that weeds might,
after all, be merely a matter of perception. As a matter of fact,
haven’t we heard it said that weeds are merely plants growing
in the wrong places!
We must never be too hasty about pulling up weeds or too
confident about identifying them. We are all growing here
together in the Lord’s field, not knowing, really, who is “good
seed” and who is a “weed.” The truth is, all of us are
sometimes both! There is, in the end, reason to have “good
hope,” for the best truth of all is that a loving God will be the
Final Harvester. When the time comes for the great harvest,
some of those who are gathered into the barn will surely
surprise us - as, I suspect, we may surprise them!
Besides this, Jesus said, “Let the weeds and the wheat
grow together.” Rather than spending time and energy ripping
out weeds, we should dedicate ourselves as much as we can to
nourishing the wheat. Evil fades in the presence of goodness.
Darkness can best be eliminated not by cursing it, but by
lighting one small candle. If our efforts accentuate the
positive, the negative will diminish on its own! When we feel
affirmed enough in our good points, our bad points go into
remission. When a lawn is healthy, the weeds have no place
to grow. Even more important, as long as we are alive, God
has not finished working in us. We can change. Others can
change. It is not our role to cement other people into a
permanence that does not come from God! Where there is
life, there is hope.