I’m not a farmer. My father was not a farmer. But my grandfather was a potato farmer in Minnesota. I learned a little from Grandpa Gus during the summers when we would travel to his farm along the Red River. He was very patient with me, as I rode on his tractor and learned what I could comprehend from him during those visits. One thing he emphasized was not to worry about the harvest until it was time. Then all would get sorted out.
Jesus is instructing this very principle in this passage in Matthew 13. Let it be. The strong seed will grow. It will be resilient and resist the influence of the weeds and the weather. Good seed, if tended well, will have the ability to grow. As in the song by David Wilcox below, “All the Roots Grow Deeper When It’s Dry” …
Summer lasted a generation
A generation — and then the winter wind
The bounty harvest that seemed so endless
It seemed so endless until it gave what it could give
Prosperity will have its season
Even when its here, it’s going by
And when it’s gone, we pretend we know the reason
All the roots grow deeper when it’s dry
It looked so easy, we change the weather
We would turn this world ourselves, our world so small
But slower rhythms, still unheard of
Said that every blessed summer someday has to fall
We are definitely in a dry season. We are facing a deadly global pandemic, a serious national economic and financial crisis as well as national social unrest. Yes, change is happening fast. We are all forced to evaluate how we are learning and growing, even though we are growing alongside individuals and groups who do not understand us or our Lord.
One way we may know we are growing as believers who have been planted alongside other “weeds” is that we may bear fruit. Galatians 5:22 tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. One of the definitions of resiliency is the ability to recover from or adjust to adversity or change. These past few months have forced us to grow deeper roots of faith and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit and hopefully develop true resilience. How resilient are you these days?
Chip Whitman
Pastor, Care & Counseling