“In gathering the weeds
you would uproot the wheat along with them.
Let both of them grow together until the harvest.”
—Matthew 13.29-30
Oh, how we want to be among the wheat
at the last judgment, gathered and bundled off to heaven,
not separated out to be burned!
As If Jesus is talking about others—
you know, those bad people—and not you,
not what in you yourself is good and bad.
Maybe God lets you discern what is fruitful in you
and blesses it; and what is not fruitful,
if you are willing, God graciously, thankfully, removes.
Maybe we shouldn’t be ripping out weeds
because we don’t know what’s weeds and what isn’t;
we don’t really know what’s good or bad.
Maybe, though we’d love to get rid of those we hate,
we shouldn’t, because we actually also depend on them,
and removing them would uproot us, too.
Maybe we should go easy on our judgments because
we have no idea what wounds or burdens people bear,
so that what seems evil to us is actually pretty good for them.
Maybe it’s not that we shouldn’t judge
but that we can’t: we can’t know
what grace lurks in even the worst person or situation.
Maybe resisting evil and injustice is so hard
because there are weeds of hate and fear in our own hearts
and sorting that out is hard and humbling.
Maybe the stuff in your life that seems bad
is also graced, and your work is
to glean the fruit from it.
Maybe God is so present in everything
that even despite the vilest evil
grace is always possible.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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