Healing Brings Clarity

October 26, 2022 / The WheatandTares / 7 Comments

I’m not sure if there’s a statement that could be more true…

Well, I’m sure there are others, but this healing business is serious, and it’s needed by more than is realized.

When you are wounded, clarity is almost impossible to find.

When you are in pain, certainty can be so cloudy, so evasive.

You can be looking straight at the problem but never see the face staring back at you in the mirror.

You’re blinded by the agony, but you claim all is well.

You can speak with words, yet the emotions are lost within the anguish of grief.

It’s like trying to walk through a crowded room with your arm in a sling, hoping no one will bump it, all the while acting as if nothing is wrong, and the room is empty.

It borders on insanity.

Yet, every one of us stands with the accused.

Every one of us has lived in this ludicrosity.

Every one of us has chosen the absurd from time to time.

But if we can simply grasp the moment to receive healing,

If we can simply accept the bandage,

Embrace the cast,

Take hold of the remedy as if it’s a lifeline,

The vision we achieve will be amazing.

Then He [Jesus]said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.
Matthew 12:13

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
James 5:13-15

Father’s Day…What a Day

June 18, 2022June 18, 2022 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Father’s Day…

What a day to celebrate.

What a day to contemplate.

Is a father one who rules with an iron fist?

Is a father one who grants every wish list?

Father’s Day fills the heart with love, fear, hatred, and confusion.

Father’s Day fills the heart with suspicion, wisdom, laughter, and illusion.

What a day to let the soul ponder.

What a day to let the mind wander.

Is a father one who encourages, advises and cheers?

Is a father one who avoids, neglects and jeers?

Father’s Day can fill the heart with strength and admiration.

Father’s Day can fill the heart with joy and appreciation.

What a day to let accumulate.

What a day to let captivate.

A true Father is one who admires, enwraps, uplifts and esteems.

A true Father is one who confronts, forgives, purifies and redeems.

Thankful for My Heavenly Father on this Father’s Day that is tough on my heart and so many others…

Penned – MG – 6/18/22

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, in God in His holy habitation.
Psalm 68:5

Striving to be Kind

June 17, 2022June 15, 2022 / The WheatandTares

I have read so many articles from those declaring we must love the addict, regardless of the hell they bring to you.

We must strive to be kind.

Be loving. Be sincere. Be gracious.

For they are hurting people, simply misunderstood.

I’ve read stories from daughters and sons who were straightforward and blunt with their parental addict.

Yet, once that parent is gone, the adult child grieves the loss and the “lack of love” they gave.

He states, “You never have that moment to return and be helpful.”

She states, “Once they’re gone, you live with the regrets of what you could’ve done, what you should’ve done.”

We must strive to be kind.

Be loving. Be sincere. Be gracious.

For they are hurting people, simply misunderstood.

Well, I personally must disagree with your memes-life approach.

I adamantly oppose your proclamation of fantasy.

Is not true love when we protect those most vulnerable among us?

Is not true sincerity when we call good, good and evil, evil, not the other way around?

Is not true graciousness when we recognize truth as it is and remove danger from the innocent?

I will never argue the merits of forgiveness and grace. That is what we should all give and receive unconditionally.

But truth must be embraced above all else for true healing to come.

Truth doesn’t rescind love.

Truth doesn’t nullify kindness.

Truth will bring recognition, repentance and regeneration.

Truth will bring forgiveness.

Forgiveness doesn’t always equal reconciliation, and grace doesn’t mean tolerance for depravity.

Sometimes, the kindest action of love is confrontation and consequences.

Sometimes, the kindest action of acceptance is refusal of evil and encircling good.

For in confrontation, mending of hearts can begin.

And in consequences, recoiling from harm can start.

So let us never strive for kindness at the expense of truth.

For the truth will always set one free.

And you shall know the truth, and the truthshall make you free.”
John 8:32

Run Away

June 14, 2022June 13, 2022 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

My heart wants to run away from all the chaos, all the pain.

My mind wants to shut down from all the turmoil, all the chains.

My soul wants to hide from all the torment, all the insane.

So, I go to the solitude place.

The place to hear my heart beating again to the rhythm of Your waves.

The place to see my mind clearing the clutter, to remember You hold my days.

The place to feel my soul settle the wandering, to understand Your peace that guides my way.

The solitude place where the noise stands still in the beauty of Your face, where the crowds fade in the light of Your grace.

Penned – MG – 6/12/22

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 46:10

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Colossians 3:15

Refiner’s Fire

June 13, 2022 / The WheatandTares

The trials of life feel like fire to the heart.

They burn and destroy as a forest ablaze.

They break and bend the impurities of our motives.

They draw out the ugly, unusable parts of our nature to reveal the good.

May we yearn for the heat.

May our hearts long for the fires that will bring forth the beauty of character and purity of the soul.

Let the fires burn.

He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.
Malachi 3:3

Let It Burn

June 11, 2022June 13, 2022 / The WheatandTares

Sometimes, we’ve got that thing that hinders holding us back.

Sometimes, we’ve got that thing that makes us pause, and it’s slowing us down.

Sometimes, to get rid of it,

You’re gonna have to let it burn.

Fire purifies. It refines.

Fire cleanses. It redefines.

Let it burn away the dross.

Let it burn away the residue.

You will be brought for as precious silver.

You will come forth as brilliant gold.

I will bring the one-third through the fire,
Will refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”
Zechariah 13:9

But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.
Malachi 3:2-3

Finding Time to Breathe

May 31, 2022June 3, 2022 / The WheatandTares

Will it ever let up?

Will it ever relent?

Time keeps ticking.

Life keeps moving.

There is no release.

There is no reprieve.

Normal is never returning.

Yet, was it ever here to begin?

What was will never again be.

So, why are you surprised?

Why are you dismayed?

It has always been as it is now.

Sometimes, stronger.

Sometimes, lesser.

But never really much contrast.

Never really much disparity, indeed.

So, why must you fight it?

Why must you rage?

All you can do is open your eyes and let wisdom reside.

All you can do is exhale and find time again to breathe.

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

Grief: It Keeps Rolling Just as the World

May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 / The WheatandTares

Grief comes in like a freight train, but it leaves like heat on a summer day.

It just keeps rolling in as the earth keeps turning.

It keeps changing like the wind in a hurricane.

It keeps piling like a logger in a sawmill.

It never stops for me or for you, no matter the title, no matter the story.

Grief is like a bully on the playground, coming in full force, but never relenting or growing shy.

It just keeps plowing like a farmer with a new field.

It keeps twisting like a mountain road on a new journey.

It keeps trodding forward like a stallion set free from a war.

It never halts for you or me, no matter the status, no matter the history.

Grief just simply must be received and processed, even analyzed and yes, sometimes, scrutinized.

Once it’s embraced, it can be positioned in the right place, but if rejected, it never truly releases.

The world moves on and so does grief.

So, let us move with it, or we will never learn to breathe again.

My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:18

Life Isn’t Fair

May 10, 2022May 9, 2022 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

One that is evil is left to keep living.

One that is good is taken too soon.

One that is friendly is kept among friends.

One that is lonely is left alone to the end.

Life isn’t always fair.

Life doesn’t always make sense.

Everybody has a story to tell.

Everybody has a scar that shares hell.

That one who hurts the most has to reach to another.

That one who drains the life takes even the morsel.

That one who cries the longest must be silenced.

That one who glares the hardest is allowed the violence.

Life isn’t always fair.

Life doesn’t always make sense.

Everybody has a story to tell.

Everybody has a scar that shares hell.

There is One who bled while others were hailed.

There is One who winced while others scoffed.

There is One who was pierced while others were passive.

There is One who died while all others lived.

Life isn’t fair, but there is a hope.

Life doesn’t always make sense, but there is a love.

His story is the redemption to tell.

His scars are proof He conquered hell.

Penned – MG – 5/9/22

And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
John 19:17-18

…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
1 Peter 2:24