Monday, July 12, 2021
Gathering In
Don’t bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.
We are reminded that we must be pruned in order to bear good fruit but this psalm tells of a different kind of harvesting: the separation of the wheat from the darnel weeds. (Matthew 13:24-30) It is true that in our present reality we too often find that the foolish lead while the wise pick up the pieces; but it is just as true that none on our gleaning goes unnoticed.
God says: I am not blind to the evil that takes place around you and I see how you struggle against it. Although I know that you look for an easier way to gain strength, this struggle against odds makes you stronger. This struggle brings you many lessons that you have no other way of learning. I know that you wish that evil might disappear entirely but consider the parable of the darnel and the wheat. These two plants are difficult to distinguish with the human eye; but my eye sees clearly. The darnel withers and is tossed on the fire. The wheat is gathered into my barn. As you grow in the field where you have been planted, allow the weeds to wilt while I harvest the good grain in you.
Each time we meet an obstacle, rather than seeing it as a hurdle to overcome, let us consider it an opportunity for us to flourish as wheat rather than wilt as darnel. Enter the words weeds among the wheat or gleaning into the blog search bar and consider the gathering you will do today.
Image from: http://blog.emergingscholars.org/
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