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How to accept our imperfect field?
We all hope for a beautiful and bountiful field. We are doing our best to sow good seeds. Every day, we diligently watch as our seeds begin to grow, and we are confident of the coming harvest.
Then, we get distracted, we look away, give our attention to something else, or we close our eyes and fall asleep. The enemy comes and does its dirty job in the shadows.
We wake up to find something unexpected. Weeds are growing along our good wheat sprouts. What happened?
“Another parable he put before them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.”
Matthew 13: 24-26
Life happened. Human life happened. Broken humanity happened.
Along with your best efforts, something always manages to sneak through: a mistake, a doubt, a moment when you lacked compassion, when you felt discouraged, when you lost your way.
In those moments, you walk through your field and see all the weeds poking out. You see all your imperfect attempts, all the ways you are falling short. You want to give in to despair.
To save the field, your instinct tells you to rush in and pull all the weeds out. Jesus is saying Don’t do it. Have patience. Wait.
“And the servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?‘”
Matthew 13: 27-28
See the weeds for what they are.
In the usual reading and understanding of this parable, Jesus is pointing to the Kingdom of Heaven. As the kingdom grows and good seeds are planted in the faithful, weeds will also grow; those who defy, reject, and oppose the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In this meditation, I hope we can look inside the field of our hearts and recognize the weeds that we are letting grow there, for our hearts are windows into the Kingdom of Heaven.
We have to see the weeds for what they are: our human flaws and weaknesses. They are the intrusive thoughts that sabotage our progress. Our most vulnerable parts, the ones that make us humble. They are our open wounds and healing scars.
Our weeds can teach us much about the road we’ve traveled, the lessons we’ve learned, and the ones we’ve yet to learn.
Our weeds are the sufferings we must keep offering up to God. They are a constant reminder that we are in a state of journeying and of ongoing conversion.
“But he said, ‘No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Matthew 13: 29-30
If we grab and pull out our weeds in frustration, shame, guilt, and desperation, some of our good wheat might come out with it, the wheat we need to nourish our souls.
As the Lord said to His disciples, the time for pulling, bundling, and burning of the weeds will come later. And this will not be done by our hands, but by the expert and delicate hand of God.
Love your weeds (tend your wheat.)
We are charged with the tending of the whole field. As we tend to our good seed and watch our wheat sprouts grow, we look at our weeds with tenderness and self-compassion.
Don’t neglect the wheat by obsessing over the weeds that keep showing up. Don’t fret about the weeds, yet don’t ignore them either. They are there to remind you that the tending of your spiritual field is a work in progress, and a work of love.
As we go through life’s experiences, challenges, obstacles, and suffering, rain and drought, the Lord is already at work, taking care of the weeds, nursing our hurts, and healing our wounds.
He loves you, weeds and all. He sees the potential of your field. And He longs to be there with you come harvest.
They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’Jeremiah 5:24
Offer your whole harvest to God.
We offer God the content of our whole hearts, our entire field, and the work of our hands. Good and bad. Successes and mistakes. We offer the fruit of our labor with humility.
The wheat and weeds in your imperfect field are your true self. You cannot hide your true self from God. He sees you. God knows you. He loves you with tenderness and compassion.
We give Him everything we have. At the end of our time here on earth, when harvest time comes around, He’ll be there with you, sorting out the wheat from the weeds that remain.
The content of our whole imperfect harvest will be transformed through Him, with Him, in Him, and for His glory.
Everything we give back to the Lord, He will join to the work of others. He will magnify the product of each one of our fields in the beautiful and bountiful kingdom we’ll all share.
“Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
John 4:35
We are all sowing seeds, hoping for wheat. But we must be ready to accept the weeds that will find their way into our soil. They are an unavoidable part of the journey.
Don’t let a few weeds make you give up on the whole harvest. With every season, you can and will try again!
The spiritual battle being fought in the field of our hearts is a microcosm of humanity’s struggle between the good seed and the bad, the wheat and the weeds of the world.
Pray for the weeds that show persistence in the face of adversity. For the weeds that show us we have the will to grow. The self-compassion and compassion toward others. For a good harvest.
If you like to ponder these subjects, join us as we tend and grow these humble mustard seeds. We hope you’ll be inspired to sow your own. Come back weekly, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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