Daily Weeding

Scripture – Mark 4:10-20: ¹⁰When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables ¹²so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ (Isaiah 6:9,10)” ¹³Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

Reflection: There are so many “thorns” that pop up in life – things that will distract me and get me off track. It’s the old idea of letting the urgent things in life take priority over the important things. Some things will suddenly jump up and cry out for attention right now!

When I let myself worry about this life and get caught up in the things of life, I lose my focus on the Kingdom of God. The good seed Christ has given me doesn’t have a chance to grow and mature.

Weeding is a day to day task. If I look at my life and pull out the thorn bushes before they get too big, the seed has room to grow. It’s not too hard pull out small bushes. But once they get some roots down, it’s a different story.

Lord, show me what weeds need to be removed today. Give me strength and the desire to take them out. And where the roots are too, deep, please remove them for me. Thanks.

An Invitation: For anyone interested in sharing their personal reflections from this week’s readings, you are invited to come by the Tim Hortons donut shop at Dix-Toledo and Northline in Southgate tomorrow morning at 9:45am. We’ll have a cup of coffee and see what the Lord has been teaching us this week.

Reading for Sunday, January 27:

Scripture – Mark 4:21-25: ²¹He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? ²²For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. ²³If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. ²⁵Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”