Tuesday, June 11, 2013

picking weeds....in life and in the garden...


always a ramble...


We bought our house at the beginning of fall this past year.  I am now starting to think if we had seen it last summer, we might have passed on this house. The yard has A.D.D No joke.  The woman who lived here before planted EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE!!!  The yard with spring has come alive in full force.  I have to do Lamaze breathing just thinking about going outside right now as we have been conquering it one section at a time (deep breaths....)

On my first attempt a few weeks ago to do some "light weeding." Baby steps right? Trying to make this a family #familyrific  event (ok, I need troops to get this yard in order) After about 15 minutes my oldest and youngest disappeared. The only one at my side was Mari.  She so diligently got into helping me pull every weed we could find. Once we were done, or so I thought we were done, she ran back into the house to grab store bags to pick up the dog poo in the yard. She did this all without me telling her.  How this girl can melt my heart.  Something clicked with me as I saw her at work. Mari is a worker. I think as much as I want her to be a quiet kid, she isn't (not at all). She hasn't been made that way.  As she gets older and I think it is important to learn  to "be still",  I see how much she just wants to get down and get dirty to do things. How I can't wait to see what God has for her as an adult.  I just hope God allows me to keep up with her! 


As we picked weeds, she asked me "why we were picking them?  "how do you even know it is a weed." To be honest, I wasn't in the mood to be answering questions, I wanted to tackle my yard so the neighbors hopefully wouldn't start complaining; but as she was asking me these questions, the parables that Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 13 came to mind and I was so thankful for in the middle of just a daily chore to talk and to share a Bible story with Mari.


Mari and I got to talk about how even in life we need to "weed" things out.  As we pulled long weeds, some with even  "pretty flowers", I got to show her how a weed (even with a pretty flower) can start to choke the roots of the flowers in our yard, and like the weed,  so many things and people can start to hurt us if we don't remove them.  We talked about "weeding" out too much sweets (that didn't go over too well but she was listening!) We talked about how important it is to have good friends who don't get us in trouble.

We talked about how Jesus said the  good seed is of Heaven and the weeds are of Satan, and later read Matthew 13 together. At age 6,  it is amazing to see she can grasp some of what Jesus taught to his disciples, and the visual of seeing actual weeds intertwined with the flowers roots, and even though  both are living things, the bad can try so hard to take away anything from the good, but with might and even sweat, you can remove the bad.  We learned this together as we had some mega weeds with some deep roots that needed to be dug out with a shovel.   I love how twice in the chapter vs 9 and  43 it says, "Who ever has ears, let them hear."Such a great moment, and I almost missed it just trying to get yard work done.

So like the Farmer, I hope to have verse 8 kids (seeds), who are falling on good soil, even when daily, their parents are trying to learn to be on good soil themselves, and I am reminded I myself have to keep  weeding things out of my own life, to keep my kids walking toward Jesus.


via (http://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/13.htm)
The Parable of the Sower
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
10The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’a
16But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.23But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
The Parable of the Weeds
24Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27“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?’
28“ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29“ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30Let 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.’ ”
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
31He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.32Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
33He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty poundsb of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
34Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”c
The Parable of the Weeds Explained
36Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.