September 28, 2021

Healing

The other night I finished painting my front steps.

It was close to midnight.

Despite it being so late, it was so worth it! They looked great and I was so happy to be done with that project!!

The problem then was that my sidewalk leading up to the steps was overgrown. So I started edging my sidewalk. Which turned into pulling a bunch of the bindweed that had overgrown the grass to the side of the steps.

As I was pulling huge trails of weeds I couldn’t help but think of the scripture about letting the wheat grow wit the tares.

The following is taken from The Church of Jesus Christ website HERE.

“Jesus sometimes taught using parables. Parables are short stories that use familiar things to teach gospel truths.

“One parable that Jesus taught while he was in Galilee was about wheat and tares (a kind of weed). Jesus said that a man who had a field planted good wheat seed in it. While he slept, someone came and planted tares, which look a lot like wheat as they grow, in the same field. All the seeds started to grow, and blades of wheat and tares broke through the ground.

“A worker in the field noticed the tares growing with the wheat. He asked the owner, “Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?” (Matt. 13:27).

“The owner of the field said that an enemy must have planted the tares. When the worker asked if the tares should be pulled up and destroyed, the owner said no. If the tares were weeded out, he explained, a lot of the wheat would be destroyed, too, since they were growing side by side.

“So the wheat and the tares were both allowed to grow until harvest time. Then the owner told the reapers to first gather and store the wheat safely in the barn. After that was finished, they were to gather the tares into bundles and burn them.

“When Jesus’ disciples were alone with him, they asked him to explain the parable. Jesus said that the sower of the good seed represented himself and the Apostles; the field represented the world; the good seed, his righteous followers; and the tares, those who follow Satan. Satan was the sower of the tares. The harvest represented the end of the world, and the reapers represented angels.

“Right now good and bad people are allowed to “grow” together. But at the end of the world, angels will separate the righteous from the unrighteous. The unrighteous—those who have chosen to break the commandments—will be punished and will wail and gnash their teeth. However, the righteous—those who have chosen to keep the commandments—will “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43).

 

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This story has a such a different meaning for me now. I had always thought the wheat and the tares were so black and white. That bad was bad and good was good. That you could judge that from the outside actions of another.

But through life experiences, I’ve learned very much that things are not always what they seem.

In the parable it says that the tares look like the wheat as they grow. To the trained eye you can spot it easily.

And perhaps to make it more applicable for our day, to the experienced (as in those who have experienced the evils of the tares) you can clearly tell them apart. (I am referring to true evils of abuse, mistreatment, killing, etc. Not things like drinking or tattoos (remember when those were so taboo when we were younger?! eye roll))

But to the unexperienced or untrained eye, they look the same. (and thus why it is so prevalent and so hard to prove).

And so they are allowed to grow together…

But eventually the wheat will be gathered, and the tares will be burned.

And here’s whey my thought changed that night:

Perhaps the reason why the tares are allowed to grow through to maturity, (they aren’t gathered until AFTER all the wheat has been gathered, which means the wheat has reached it’s maturity. ) is so that there is NO DENYING that it is in fact a tare.

When you let something, or someone, become fully what they are, a narcissist for instance, there is NO DENYING that they are in fact a narcissist.

A tare that reaches maturity can no longer argue that it’s not in fact a tare.

But if you were to pull it when it was young and still growing, then it could argue that it wasn’t going to be a tare, and it was actually going to choose to be a wheat.

Just as someone that hasn’t settled into the role of who they are going to be, could argue that they weren’t going to choose that.

And so perhaps the Lord allows us to all grow, to the point that we cannot even fool ourselves that we are something that we are not. AND so that it’s clear to EVERYONE what we truly are.

So if you find tares in your wheat, let it grow. Allow it to reveal itself to the world what it really is. Because in the end it will all be made clear.

And that is a really comforting thought.