Wheat and Weeds: Growing Together
Learning patience and trust when good and bad grow side by side
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.”
Matthew 13:24-25
There’s something strangely ordinary about this parable. A man sows good seed, just as he always does, but while everyone is sleeping, someone with bad intentions sneaks in and sows weeds.
It’s not a dramatic event, just the quiet work of an enemy while life goes on.
This story feels a lot like real life. We work hard, we try to do what’s right, and yet trouble still manages to sneak in when we’re least expecting it. Sometimes the “weeds” in our lives are situations outside our control, or even people who make things difficult. Other times, the weeds are the struggles in our own hearts, old habits, worries, doubts that show up even though we want to be good soil for God’s love.
But Jesus doesn’t say to rip out all the weeds immediately. In fact, in the full parable, the landowner tells the workers to let the wheat and the weeds grow together until harvest.
If you try to pull the weeds now, you might damage the wheat. The lesson is about patience, both with ourselves and with others. We’re reminded that only God sees the full picture.
Sometimes we wish God would just pull out all the “bad” things in our lives right away. But His ways are gentle and wise. He allows things to grow together, giving us time to mature, to choose, to trust. In the end, He will set things right.
Our job is to keep growing, to stay rooted in Him, and to trust that He knows how to bring forth a good harvest, even when we see weeds among the wheat.
Where do you notice “weeds” growing alongside the good in your life right now? How might God be inviting you to patience and trust rather than immediate solutions?
Lord, help me to trust You when I see weeds and troubles growing around me.
Give me patience to grow in faith and hope, knowing that You are caring for me and will bring forth a good harvest in Your time.
Amen.