Weeds! Weeds are the miserable bane of every gardener’s dream. I know firsthand; I’ve been up to my elbows in them lately. We’ve taken off on two separate occasions this summer, and even though we were only absent for a week each time, I was shocked when we returned. We live in an area with amazing soil, and it looked like a jungle had replaced the clean plot that we had planted just weeks before.

“A sower went out to sow his seed…and some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it” (Luke 8:5, 7, NKJV).

Recently, after a particularly frustrating session of pulling so many of these stubborn weeds, I began looking at this parable that Jesus told so long ago. It’s still applicable to my spiritual life (as it has always been). Christ explains the parable of the sower and the soil later in Luke 8, and I found it amazingly accurate in how it depicted my spiritual walk…especially when the path has gotten weedy.

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).

“Now the ones the fell among the thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”

I certainly can’t relate to the part about “riches.” I’ve never been wealthy, so the “pleasures of life” that naturally come with riches haven’t been a struggle; however, the “cares” have (at times) done a number on my spirituality.

I’ve discovered that the more worried and concentrated I become about what is happening around me, the less tangible I feel God’s presence in my life. It’s an easy trap to fall into…forgetting that life is about more than merely just making it through the day. The weeds of worry and care can often choke the spiritual life right out of me if they are allowed to take root and grow.

Pulling weeds is an arduous task, and when it comes to the spiritual garden of my life, I can’t pull them alone. I’ve got a Friend who’s an excellent gardener though…and I often call on Him to help me clear the path so that the fruit of righteousness can grow in my life. He spoke the parable, and He knows how to take care of the weeds in my life.

Michael Temple writes from North Dakota.

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