“When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.” // Matthew 13:26
I paused for a moment and thought to myself, Didn’t we already work through this, Lord?! It was a gentle reminder that though we’d been hard at work healing in a variety of ways—physically, mentally, and emotionally—there remained work He desired to do within me.
How many times have you thought to yourself, Gosh, I thought we were over this! or Wow, I thought that part of me was healed! only to be gently called back into His own Heart for continued restoration and renewal?
Healing is hard work and it is God—the Good Sower—Who plants in us the good seed of deeper faith within difficulty along with the hope for healing that perseveres through it all, and tends it to bear the fruit of a deeper and more steadfast love for Him and His tender care for us.
But gosh, doesn’t it feel sometimes that with the healing comes an awareness of only more places in our lives that need healing? Healing is hard work, and it becomes exhausting when we try to heal ourselves by ourselves.
Today’s Gospel reminds us that we have never sown alone (see Matthew 13:24-30). It is God Who plants and reaps and receives all of us—the fruit and the weeds. We don’t have to sift through it all by ourselves; we must only hand ourselves over into His careful care and allow Him to do the work within us.
In what area of your life right now is fruit being borne? In what area of your life are you aware of your weeds?
Sweet Father, help me today to hand myself completely over into Your careful care. Sift through every area of my life: may the fruits I bear glorify You and may my weeds of weakness be opportunities for deeper conversion and trust in You today. I surrender the sowing to You.
Shalini Blubaugh is a Minnesota transplant living in Coppell, Texas. She served with NET Ministries and went on to graduate with her J.D., though happily left all things law behind. Along with her roles as wife and mom, she now runs her own company, Pray. Train. Grow., as a Certified Fitness Trainer and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Her mission is to help Catholic women grow STRONG in mind, body, and heart through the integration of Faith, fitness and food.
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