”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, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.” (Matthew 13: 24-26).

This particular parable that Jesus told always resonated with me as I am a Midwest farmer’s daughter through and through. Believe me, I have pulled many many weeds out of our family garden. And yes, sometimes, I accidentally pulled out a plant with the weed. Jesus goes on to say in the parable (which I will paraphrase) that he does not want the slaves to pull the weeds out because the wheat might get pulled out as well.

There’s a valuable lesson here I think and for me it goes like this. We are going to be surrounded in life by really good people, some lukewarm people, some indifferent people and some down right evil people and situations. But the Lord made us all and we were all made in His Image and likeness….good. All the other happenings to us after that is through our own free will. God gives us choices….free will. We can surround ourselves with other good humans; however, before life is done, we will also come in contact with evil and probably more than once. Yes, evil is real and comes in many forms, especially in the world of social media we live in today. Lots of temptations!

If we are living a virtuous Christian life and doing our best to be a good person, we will have to ferret out the ‘weeds’ that pop up from time to time in our lives. We just have to keep our eyes open for goodness, and be aware of evil situations or people who do not have goodness at the core of their being. Sometimes, that is not always easy to see. Sometimes we don’t want to see it, especially if it is someone or some situation that we have become close too. Just like with the weed plants, you have to stop the growth at the root of the weed/problem, making room for goodness to flourish and grow. While it is not easy to pull out a weed that is deeply ingrained in the soil, I believe it can be done. It takes prayer, a relationship with our Lord, and trust in Him to guide you and help you see where the weeds in our life are.

Blessings,

PJP