As a keen organic gardener, I understand the labour of love it takes to prepare an area for a new veggie patch—clearing the ground and removing all the weeds and debris before adding organic matter and nutrients to the soil in order to plant the seed.
Once the tender seedlings start to grow, they need protection from pesky bugs and diseases until harvesting the crop.
This process reminds me of a story of a farmer who planted a wheat field to feed others in his community. One night a vandal came and sowed weeds amongst the wheat. By the time anyone realised, the weeds were well established, and the workers in the field asked the farmer, “Do we pull out the weeds?”
The farmer replied, “No, otherwise you will uproot the wheat and ruin the harvest. Let them both grow together, and when harvest time comes, then we will bundle the weeds to be burnt, and the wheat will be saved.”
Can you imagine how discouraging that must have been when the farmer tried to do something good to feed a community, and someone deliberately sabotaged his work?
There are many lessons to learn from this wise farmer, but one, in particular, we can all learn—don’t be discouraged if you experience a setback when trying to do something good for others. Just keep doing what’s right even when others are doing what’s wrong, for the weeds will someday be uprooted, and the good seeds you plant will eventually overtake the weeds.
“Hope never abandons you, you abandon it”. – George Weinberg
Seeds of Hope Community 