For You to Be and Him to Do

“[The farmer] sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself.” Mark 4:27-28a ESV1

Read Mark 4:26-29

I felt so lazy as I sat in the house while copious amounts of snow fell from the sky and a ferocious wind swirled it about. My husband was on a business trip. He asked me not to worry about shoveling the snow; he would take care of the snow removal when he came home later that evening. At first, I was satisfied with the arrangement, but the weather continued to worsen and, because of the storm, my husband’s flight was delayed. Now, no longer would he be getting home in the evening; he wouldn’t arrive until almost midnight. I felt I had to do something to help.

I shoveled the sidewalk and in front of the garage. It was heavy, wet snow, but I slowly conquered a ginormous drift and felt empowered to tackle more. I started up the driveway, but the drifts got taller, and as I began to tire, the snow seemed heavier. But I was determined; I was going to at least clear a place at the entrance of the driveway for my husband to park his vehicle and shovel a path for him to get into the house. It took me almost two hours, but I accomplished that which I set out to do. By that time, though the wind threatened to destroy my work, the snow had almost come to an end. Exhausted but satisfied, I returned to the house with a smile on my face as I imagined how proud my husband would be of me.

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Attention: Requires Discernment

And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?”        Matthew 13:27 ESV1

Read Matthew 13:24-30 & 36-43

We live in a world full of warnings. Countless things from street signs to machinery, from weapons to toys, and from controlled substances to tags on mattresses remind us to use caution before proceeding. Before I sat down to write this morning, I was alerted to several possible dangers. Caution: Do not exceed recommended dose was printed on the label of my vitamins. Attention: Very Hot Liquid was prominently displayed on my coffee maker. And even Warning: do not use if you are allergic to aspirin was printed on my tea bag. Though some of the notices that advise us to use caution seem redundant—like hot liquid coming out of a coffee maker—others are quite practical. For instance, I am not allergic to aspirin, but if I were, the unexpected warning on my tea bag could have saved my life.

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