Strive and Thrive

This weekend the Gospel text for my sermon is Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43 where Jesus tells the parable about the weeds and wheat. I’ve learned a lot during my sermon prep time about weeds. I had no idea that Queen Anne’s Lace was a weed. It is so beautiful, and I loved putting it into food dye as a child and watching it change colors. With purple being my favorite color, I was surprised that those pretty purple flowers along the road were weeds, too. We all live together with weeds and wheat growing alongside the road, growing in our hearts and growing in those who live around us. Thankfully we don’t have to judge ourselves - always strive to do our best and be our best for God - and we don’t have to judge people around us. We get to all strive and thrive together covered with God’s grace and mercy. Many thanks to David Paul Kelly for this beautiful picture of thistles. How can such beauty be bad? A great rhetorical question for many things in life.