no, no, no, no, no!

Her tight curls draped down in her face. She reached for the fragile glass on the table, and before I knew it, a string of no’s fell from my lips in rapid succession: “No, no, no, no, no!” My niece was startled and looked at me. Her hand remained in midair waiting for me to tell her what it was that she wasn’t supposed to do.

Often when I come home to the farm I find myself thinking through the agricultural parables that Jesus used to teach His followers. I’ve been pondering the wheat and the tares lately. I remember as a little girl weeding the garden with my mother. One of the weeds that was easy to spot was velvet leaf. It’s large, soft leaves resembled hearts, and early in the season could be removed from the garden with a little tug. However, there were other weeds that were harder to identify. Not a few times my mother would lean over and instruct me not to pull the plant that my little hand was gripping. “Wait,” she would say, “We need that one!”

Sometimes as I look around me, I’m just sure I am looking at tares. In my opinion, their leaves look like weeds, their fruit doesn’t add to the harvest, and they are taking up space in the garden. But it struck me this week that perhaps sometimes God wants to say, “No, no, no, no, no!” as we bend over to rid the garden of one more weed. And as we look to Him we are startled and our hand remains in midair. And, He whispers, “Just wait! We need that one!”

And when I consider my life, I must say that I don’t always look like a plant that will bring in a great harvest, but God in His mercy at one time or another has said, “Just wait! We need that one!” So, in this season of my life, I’m attempting to look at the plants before me and let God do the sorting. Because I’m pretty sure that I would rip out a few that we need…some that will someday bring in a great harvest.