Thursday, July 20, 2017

 Matthew 13:24-30

He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” '

Trust the seed

Weeds and wheat are a portrait of the world, I suppose. If so, they are also an image of each day, each hour, each place, each person and each of us, telling us what to expect today—a mixture.

Not everything will be pleasing, not everything will make us happy, not everything will be life-giving, but (and this a big one) goodness and grace, wonder and beauty, hope and love … thank God … love will be there, too.

All this will be thrown together in one big bag, shaken and thoroughly mixed, and we’ll call it … Thursday.   

The way of faith and wisdom is to welcome it all. To say, “Yes,” to whatever comes. To accept that you were made to live this moment, made for this time, place and encounter.  

Embrace every moment knowing a seed has been planted in this world, this day, this hour, in the person you are talking to at this moment, however irritating or wonderful the moment may be.

There is good seed planted there. Sometimes it has grown to the beauty of waves of wheat waving in the wind. I’ve seen it, and it has a grace all its own.

Sometimes the bad seed, the ugly, cynical, painful and destructive has taken root so deeply in a life, a time and place that this is all one can see.

But the good seed is there, the seed of Love, waiting for you to water and nourish it with the grace in active your own soul that it may grow into the beauty of God’s own heart. The human task is not to separate the plants but to grow wheat.

Trust the seed. Say, ‘yes,’ to each moment. Be the Love you are. Today.

Pr. David L. Miller