""The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:28-30
Matthew 13:28-30
Not often do I write two entries in one day; but today has been a day filled with lessons to learn, and opportunities to grow. I can't help but share this.
Today I learned something new. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that, as a girl who grew up in a farming community, I never completely understood why farmers would have "controlled" or "prescribed" fires burning in their fields. I was told a couple weeks ago, and reminded today, of the reason:
Controlled burns in forests are started and maintained in order to burn away excess brush or growth that could potentially fuel a forest fire. These burns actually prevent forest fires from becoming out of control.
Now, farmers use controlled burns in order to burn away weeds that have grown among their crops, rather than pulling them up and potentially damaging the crop's growth. Also (this gets me every time I think about it), the ashes from the fire contain potassium and calcium, which can feed nutrients to the soil.
I was initially told this information in order to encourage me to be patient with the process of identifying and changing the unhealthy thinking patterns and coping mechanisms I've developed over the years; but the person who told me this may not realize (or may very well have realized) that this information immediately brought me to a very familiar story in the Gospel of Matthew. In fact, I'm sure that some of you, my faithful readers, already know exactly which story I'm heading for: The Parable of the Weeds, from Matthew 13:24-30:
"Jesus told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
For me, this past year has involved a great deal of "burning away weeds." I've had to allow God to burn away so much that has been keeping me from growing into a healthy and whole person: unhealthy habits, negative patterns of thinking about others and about myself, and so much more.
There's nothing lovely about this process, I'm afraid. We often romanticize the concept of "laying our all at the altar," but have we stopped for a moment to realize just what that means? Laying my all at the feet of Jesus meant coming to grips with my sin, with my avoidance, with the things that could separate me from my Heavenly Father, things that could cause a forest fire to burn out of control and destroy me. It meant surrendering control. It meant that I had to come clean, so that Jesus could wash me clean.
Being refined is messy, requires work, and requires a lot of heat.
But oh, the beauty and the freedom that comes when we allow our Savior to do so.
I think, for the first time in a while, I'm beginning to understand the price of holiness. Allowing myself to be refined and to have chaff and weeds burned away, and to have dead branches pruned (I'm becoming more and more intrigued by how many times Jesus talked about gardening and agriculture in order to teach about holiness!), this all requires sacrifice. Holiness requires a lot of letting go of the things that are not good for us, and trusting that our Heavenly Father knows what's best for us.
This process of "controlled burns" and refining has been challenging, in every sense of the word. Some days, I find myself exhausted by the process, and just wish that I could get to the end result, right away. I was reminded today about the need to set these "controlled burns" in motion, to prevent a wild fire from spreading. I must be patient with the process, and trust in the skillful hand of my Savior. When I allow Him to burn away the weeds, and feed me with His Truth, I will grow stronger, more beautiful and healthy than ever before. I am trusting Him to do this.
Tonight, I am holding fast to 1 Peter 1:6-7...
"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."Blessings.
