THE TURNING PLOW

by Barbara Chadwick

 

  

“The turning plow goes deep. It turns up the soil and up-ends weeds and old dry plants from the previous season. Weeds grow from seeds so we would plow them up before they developed seeds thus preventing the weeds from taking over.”  Kenneth, who grew up in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas, described the work of the turning plow – Hot. Hard. Work.

Jesus talked about planting seeds in Matthew 13:1-8, then in verses 24-30 He tells the disciples about weeds. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

Barnes commentary said, “The weeds are the children of the wicked one (the enemy)…though they do not own his name, yet they bear his image, do his lusts… he rules over them… They (the weeds) do no good, they do hurt; unprofitable in themselves, and hurtful to the good seed…they are weeds in the garden, have the same rain, and sunshine and soil…but are good for nothing…”

Sometimes, while we’re sleeping, we let little negative things develop and grow in our hearts and minds until they become, “hurtful to the good seed;”  hurtful to the joy and grace that God has given to us.

In her book “Unglued” Lysa Terkeurst talks about this:  “If we plant seeds of reassurance, blessing, and love, we reap a great harvest of security. Of course, if we plant seeds of backbiting, questioning and doubt, we reap a harvest of insecurity. I’ve discovered that the more love and joy I pour into others, the more I experience in my own life.”  (Chapter 10)

Backbiting, questioning and doubt are like the weeds Kenneth would dig up with his turning plow. Reassurance, blessing and love are the great harvest we reap when we dig out the weeds before they can start to grow.

The turning plow goes deep. Hot. Hard. Work.  Just so, we should dig deep to remove the weeds from our hearts and minds so that our lives will reflect God’s love and bless others with His grace and joy.