Weeds in their midst

11:30 – Got two rows of weeds hoed in between where the blackeyed peas are planted. It took two hours to do two rows so at that rate it will take me four hours to finish this job and there’s a lot more to do than this. I’m focusing my energies where we have, and plan to have, plants growing. With God’s grace we will get rain when the front moves through Wednesday. If I can find the time I will plant seeds in hope and faith that we will get rain. Hope and faith, two essential ingredients of farming, along with hard work and a lot of sweat.

As I worked my thoughts again turned to the letter I’ve been writing for weeks now. I need to finish it so will despite everything that needs doing. In my thoughts the words of Jesus came to me, hard words to obey when it applies to personal matters in our life. He said that if someone slaps you on one cheek turn so he can hit you on the other, and if he takes your coat give him your shirt as well. The root of the concept here is to trust in God to take care of the situation and to show the Love of Jesus to your fellow man/woman. “Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord, I will repay”. OK, sounds great but…
I welded up the hoe again. It kept cracking along the old welds so I ran a series of beads down to strengthen it. Also ran another bead along the edge to create a harder steel area that will stay sharp longer and hold up to the abuse.

So we will wrestle with that. Yesterday I ran out and pulled weeds in the morning before we went to church. Pulling the weeds brought to mind many of the parables Jesus told involving weeds. In one a man planted his grain and someone sneaked in and planted weeds. When asked about pulling the weeds up the owner said “No” citing that doing so would pull up good plants along with the bad so let them grow till harvest time when you could clearly see the difference. So in the church there are “Weeds” mixed in with the rest of us. They cause all kinds of problems but right now can’t be easily told from the good. It’s when they bear “Fruit” that you can tell them apart. God will be cleaning house soon. I think that even the weeds don’t know they are going to be thrown in the fire and burned. Some do for sure but some have been deceived into believing they are doing just fine.