Tares and wheat

This week's Bible lesson on 'Matter' contains a familiar parable, the tares and the wheat. As I prayed with this story today I decided to think of the wheat, the good seed, as truthful thoughts about God and His children. Thoughts based on the creation account given in Genesis One, where God saw all that He had made, including man in His own image and likeness, as very good. I would think of the tares as anything that presents or suggests something unlike God or good.

That puts me in the role of the person who sowed good seed in my field. That field is my own consciousness and includes my body, my home, my family, my friends, my church. So that today I am 'sowing' only good and right thoughts about myself and everyone around me. In the parable it says that something comes along while 'men slept'. To me, that would be like reading the lesson in the morning, and then letting my thoughts drift away from its teaching into a place where I was not alert to wrong ideas or bad thoughts. We need to stay awake and alert during the day. The 'enemy' would try to slip in evil suggestions disguised as our own thoughts or hidden in some tv ad or idle conversation. The 'fruits' of this may not appear at once but pop up days or weeks later.

In the parable, the sower's servants see what has happened and come to him. In my prayers I see this as someone coming to me and wondering how problems seem to have popped up in my life, when I am supposed to be only sowing 'good seed'. This is when others doubt Christian Science and press you to explain just what you are doing wrong. But the sower in the parable doesn't take personal responsibility for error. He knows that this is the work of the 'enemy', not something he himself has done wrong.

When others see us dealing with a problem they sometimes think we need to be taking some visible action. And they are usually full of advice on just what it is they think we should be doing. They are all for charging in and pulling it all out by the roots. But the wise sower knows that the leaven of Truth is already at work, he or she has chosen to rely on God and His allness. Prayer does not return to us void or ineffective. But we need to be willing to trust and be patient. As we continue to grow spiritually, as we continue to pray and listen, Truth becomes clearer to us. We see the Original and are no longer fooled by any impersonations.

As we arrive at this point of understanding we are ready for the harvest, the healing. At that time we see error for the nothingness it is, aware that it does not come from God, and therefore is without power or reality. It is as useless as weeds, and as easily recognizable. On the other hand, we see the value of the 'wheat'. This is our harvest. And at that point the error or problem disappears.

I love praying with the parables. Let me know if you are working with this one and how it is expanding for you.