Lessons Learned

Keep Healing

/ The WheatandTares

Sometimes, healing comes instantly, but more often than not, it’s a long and tedious process.

Just as it takes a broken limb weeks, even months to mend, the heart needs so much more.

We are emotional beings. We are thought-filled humans, and wounds are like a heavy broomstick lying atop a tangled web of cords.

You’re not going to move that stick without disturbing the cords. You can’t just grab it, swoop it up, and call it a day.

You’re gonna have to move slow.

You’re gonna have to breathe deep and exhale at a snail’s pace.

You’ve got to ensure the healing is there.

And sometimes, a tiny gesture, a simple word, a small memory can come crashing in to slam that stick back onto the pile and even twist it a good bit!

Slow down, one more time.

Breathe in deep, one more time.

Exhale slowly, one more time.

Now, go work on picking up that stick again, one more time.

You can do this hard.

It might be messy, excruciating and long, but I promise you:

The healing is worth it.

Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.

Mark 8:22-25

Take the Challenge: Heal

/ The WheatandTares

Healing truly is a choice.

You can choose to remain in that pain, that sorrow, that grief, or you can choose to take those steps out.

Now, don’t scoff. Don’t ridicule. Don’t turn me off.

I know this isn’t an easy read.

You might be screaming I don’t understand.

You may be shouting I don’t see your space.

You might be shrugging I don’t hear you.

You may be screeching I don’t feel your struggle.

But I do understand. I do see. I do hear. I do feel.

Because I am there.

My place may not be yours, but it is mine alone.

And there is a hope for tomorrow, but it is mine to grasp.

Mine alone.

And you have the same. If you will but choose.

Don’t remain a victim of circumstance.

Don’t stay a martyr of the past.

Don’t settle as a casualty of the shattered.

Fight for the new day.

Fight for the brighter future.

Fight for the healing to come.

What you don’t fight for, you don’t deserve, and you can never declare as your own.

Fight for it with every breath.

And win.

Even when you feel you can’t.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Grief … Part 742

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Grief can be hidden and tucked away so deep, you almost forget it’s there.

Yet, when it peeks back through the shadows, it’s like a scream within that no one else can hear.

But you can sense it, even in the deepest shadows.

You can feel it, even in the stillest night.

You can almost see it, even in the blackest of eves.

And it will return with such fierce vengeance while no one else recognizes it’s deafening sound.

That is grief.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalm 34:18

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Speak to Be Understood

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

The English language is so prevalent across the globe, and yet, so many people do not understand each other.

Spoken by 1.452 billion people, I’d say it’s the most popular language in the world. Mandarin Chinese does come in a close second; however, I’d argue that this isn’t for it’s prevalence but rather it’s dense population of people groups in China, Taiwan and Singapore.

But the English language can be just as confusing as a foreign language, even among those who grew up speaking it and conversing with it.

I believe this is for the simple fact that the English language has more lingos, innuendos, and implications than any other language on the planet.

As in the picture I’ve posted, even the spelling and pronunciation of certain words can be confounding.

But if we want to be heard, we must speak to be understood.

Yelling and screaming only reduce to chaos.

Hatred and angry words only reduce to lunacy.

Lies and manipulation only reduce to thievery and destruction.

What are your words saying today?

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

No Good Reason

/ The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

For some people, there will be no good answer.

For some behavior, there will be no good reason.

For some things, there is no good explanation.

For some are just wrong, just bad, just inexcusable.

Stop trying to justify the evil.

Stop attempting to rationalize the nefarious acts.

In your explication, enablement is all that can be found.

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Isaiah 5:20-21

Read That Again

/ The WheatandTares

Not a lot more to add to this. Read it again. And if you need to, read it one more time.

*Disclaimer: I do not know Dr. Caroline Leaf, nor do I follow her commentaries. So, I do not vouch for her philosophies. 😉

Grow and Thrive to the Sky

/ The WheatandTares / 11 Comments

The sky really is the limit of your success.

There can be hardships. There can be pain.

There can be obstacles. Don’t strive in vain.

But find your place. Find your niche.

Keep pushing forward. Don’t fall in the ditch.

Yet, even in the moment of falling.

You can always find your calling.

You only have to look up to the sky.

And you’ll begin to thrive when you seek the Most High.

Commit your works to the Lord,
And your thoughts will be established.

A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 16:3, 9

Take a Walk

/ The WheatandTares

Weight of the world resting on your shoulders?

Take a walk in nature and look around.

Clouded viewpoints and shadowed vision?

Step out to the oceanside and take a seat for a while.

Muddled hearing and crooked pathway?

Hike up to the summit and breathe deep.

White noise consuming and anxiety rising?

Find the waterfall and sit and soak till the sun sets.

Don’t stop until the spinning stops and the fog clears.

The heavier the load and the wider the time will determine the stretch you need.

But keep seeking. Keep breathing.

Let it all wash over your soul until all is at peace.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Weights to Carry

/ The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

We all have a weight to carry.

No matter where we go, what we do, or who we are.

Some choose to carry more, and others believe they’re not choosing to carry any, which that, in and of itself, is a weight to carry.

Those who choose to carry the weight have the ability to decide what they carry and what they let go.

Those who choose to carry the weight have the right to be confident in the fight; they have the right to be indignant of those who won’t.

Those who believe they’re not choosing by their silence and their apathy are truly choosing to drop the weight onto another.

Those who believe they’re not choosing by their lack and their contrived kindness are simply creating a cadence to condone the wrong.

Some choose to carry the weight with dignity, integrity, and strength, and they give their power to the masses.

And those who don’t only add the weight to the ones who choose.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

Beauty in the Miniscule

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

In the vast expanse of the Grand Canyon, one small tree branch can seem minuscule.

Just as my life can seem futile in the sense populate of the human race.

What can my life accomplish among so many?

How can my life make an impact within he density of the crowd?

And it would be so easy to stay tucked away in a hole, never reaching, never moving.

Yet, how is it with that little one by your side?

How is it with the coworker across the room?

How is it with the roommate on your hall

How is it with the ones surrounding you day to day?

If you quit, who will lead them?

If you let go, who will breathe life to them?

If you walk away, who will speak hope and truth?

That small branch on the side of the canyon might be the resting place for the weary, fluttering butterfly.

That small branch might be just the finishing touch for the next of a feathered friend.

The insignificance we feel might be just the highlighted reel of the one who can’t see tomorrow.

Don’t look out over the sphere and lose your way.

Look right in front of you, beside you and behind and reach.

Be hope. Be light. Be truth. Be life.

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Matthew 13:31-32