Weeds of Worry

God wasn't just kidding when He told Adam that, as the result of sin, mankind would henceforth earn his livelihood by great effort. ”The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk." (Genesis 3:18, 19). Farmers and gardeners still wage unending warfare with weeds. A field crop may produce 100 to 1,000 seeds per plant, but weeds outdo beneficial plants. The Colorado State Extension service reports, for example, that dandelions typically produce fifteen thousand seeds per plant. The common pigweed plant produces one hundred seventeen thousand seeds per plant. If just nine pigweed plants go to seed, they can scatter over one million seeds! And these seeds are viable for forty years! Not only do many other weeds excel in the quantity of seeds produced, their seeds too can remain viable in the soil for an exceptionally long time. And that, Adam, is why we have such a hard time getting rid of some of the things that grow where they're not wanted!

Jesus told a parable about thorns. A farmer went out in the planting season, broadcasting seed throughout his field. Some of the seed fell in a weedy patch, and when the tender plants came up, the thorns choked them out. Explaining His teaching, Jesus said that the seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of riches, so that no fruit is produced. (Matthew 13: 3-8, 18-23)

Your "worries of this life" are not identical to mine, but we all have them. Wealth may not be our problem, but those who have riches find it cannot purchase some of the things they most desire: health, love, a good name. The lack of riches is equally deceitful, often causing us to think that if we just had "more," our troubles would go away! We would do well to deal with these "weeds of worry" as quickly as possible, lest they reproduce a hundredfold—or a hundred seventeen thousandfold!

MaryMartha

Other posts about worry:
Too Many Irons in the Fire
Be Like a Flower
Worrying

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Info: how many seeds? http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/2113.html