growth

Know Who Your Friends Are

/ The WheatandTares

Too many people in this world bite, ridicule and wound those closest to them who care the most.

Too many people in this world viciously attack the ones who love them the most because they’re willing to speak truth.

Too many people don’t know who their friends are and walk away from the best.

Too many people embrace the toxic, the loud, and the angry, believing because “they’re family,” that’s what they’re suppose to do.

Too many people hold onto a bloodline that kicks them around and demands they be a doormat when they should say goodbye and not look back.

Too many people keep close those whom should be released and let go of those whom should be captivated.

Look around. Evaluate. Be honest.

Don’t stay out of obligation, fear or routine.

Don’t walk away out of rage, envy or apathy.

Open your eyes to see clearly and hear with precision.

Make wise choices, and make calculated decisions.

You can do this.

And the next generation is depending on you to do it right.

They are watching and waiting.

Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.

1 Samuel 18:1-4

Time Like the Tide

/ The WheatandTares

Time is like the tide.

It never stops.

It’s always moving forward.

It waits for no man.

It pauses for no woman.

It can bring peace or chaos, but you can choose.

You can plan and prepare, or you can simply let it roll on in.

But it will not be stopped.

It can catch you unaware, or you can come ready.

The choice is yours.

What will you do?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

James 4:13-17

Everyone Has a Prison

/ The WheatandTares

No matter who you are, where you came from, where you’re going,

We all have a prison to live in.

It may be your career, your education, your ambition that demands your concentration, your dedication.

It may be your possessions, your economic status, your greed for more that commands your toil, your allegiance.

There is a prison, and it beckons your name.

It may be your pain, your heartache, your past that haunts your thoughts, your recollections.

It may be your anger, your temper, your impulse that forces your allegiance, your agreement.

There is a prison, and the door is open wide.

It may be your children, your spouse, your family that claims your devotion, your approval.

It may be your health, your well-being, your countenance that orders your commitment, your adherence.

It may even be a wall of bars you’ve allowed someone else to control the size, the depth, the yielding of your attendance that confines your submission and your surrender.

We all have a prison waiting, which one will you choose?

You can also decide love, joy, peace, and goodness will be your eternal home.

This prison will bring more freedom than you can ever imagine.

Then, you’ll want to lock the door and throw away the key.

Choose well. For once the latch is turned, you may never leave your abiding cage…

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:15

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Galatians 6:7

Get Busy Livin’ or Get Busy Dyin’

/ The WheatandTares

Robert Herrick wrote a poem that had this verse,

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

And in the movie, Dead Poets Society , Robin Williams implores the students to live life to the fullest, to reach beyond the complacent living that is so tempting and make their lives extraordinary.

I wonder how often we actually wake up and purposefully make our lives extraordinary.

Seriously, this about your day today.

How did you wake up?

What did you do in the first 30 minutes?

What did you do in the last 30 minutes?

What about all of those tiny seconds in between?

Do we work hard to live our lives to make an impact,

Or do we simply impact our lives hard to live for work?

Each one of us have the opportunity to rise above the norm, to stretch beyond the comfort, to strive above to greater heights.

It is up to each of us to choose what influence we will have,

And it is up to us whether we choose to live for dyin’ or die trying to live.

Which will you choose?

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even avapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

James 4:14

Stretch

/ The WheatandTares

How’s your stretching today?

If you’re growing, you’re going to be stretching.

If you’re learning, you’re going to be expanding.

If you’re progressing, you’re going to be changing.

You can never become without growth.

You can never advance without change.

You can never develop without pruning.

When a seed bursts into a plant, the seed pod breaks.

When the sprout grows, it has to break through the ground.

When the stems reach for the sky, they have to stretch and move.

And if the tree is to one day flourish and bear abundant fruit, it has to be pruned.

Growing is never easy, and sometimes, it’s definitely not fun.

But if we are to be what we are called to be, we must embrace it.

We must look for opportunities to learn, to progress, to change.

If we are to succeed, we must learn to love the stretch.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

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. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Committed Crazies

/ The WheatandTares
(Yeah. Somebody spelled it wrong, and my grammar self is going crazy inside!)

Some people don’t really have to be crazy.

They’ve just committed themselves to being a certain way, and their stubbornness will not relent.

Others have lived undisciplined for so long that they have convinced themselves this is a good life.

Still others, have fully embraced their crazy, and they want everyone else to embrace it as somehow normal.

If you find yourself in one of these three categories, and you’re living life believing everyone is just giving you a hard time, or they’re all just so difficult to be around , or they never give you a break to be who you are, please hear me screaming at you across the cosmic divide.

STOP!! HALT!! RELEASE!! RELENT!! END NOW!

Stop right now, in your tracks, and listen a moment to reason.

Open your ears to wisdom calling to you.

No one accidentally becomes the “crazy one.”

No one stumbles into the pools of insanity.

It is a choice. And you make it everyday.

So, make the right decisions.

Choose the correct outcomes.

Your spouse will thank you. Your children will sing your praises. And friends will begin to visit again as you walk away from the crazies and embrace life!

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

Philippians 3:13-16

But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

1Corinthians 9:27

How Much Do You Want to Grow?

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Do you want to grow to maturity?

Do you want to truly succeed?

If you answered yes, then I have to ask you, “How much truth can you handle?”

Truly successful people will receive rebuke.

Truly successful people will crave instruction.

Truly successful people will seek criticism.

For if you want to reach high achievements, you have to first recognize where you are, where you were and where you are not.

This takes a great deal of humility and an even greater ability to receive truth.

So, are you a growth seeker or a truth evader?

And you shall know thetruth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:32

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

John 17:17

10/29/22

Let It Burn

/ 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

Your Potential Extension

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Potential…

Everyone has potential…

Sometimes, you have to wait on it…

You wait on your potential, wait through your potential and you wait for your potential to arrive. Waiting on your potential to grow and mature can sometimes be exhausting! It can be slow growth with lots of changes and adjustments.

You wait through your potential change and development to arrive at your giftings and abilities.

You wait through your potential shifting to get to your potential extension.

Have you ever met someone who seems to be a “skys the limit” kind of person? It seems they can do anything, be anything they desire, with no limitations?

This is what I’d describe as a potential extension. There is no limit to their potential, because it has extended beyond themselves.

This is where you find yourself awaiting the potential’s arrival or the limit of your potential.

It’s not a “sit down and wait” kind of potential.

It’s not a place of apathy and laziness, “simply growing old and fat,” awaiting your potential.

It’s not a “looking at the clock, awaiting the change to come to you” kind of potential…

It’s a place of pushing, striving and extending your limitations to reach further than you ever have before.

It’s a place of stretching and learning to thrive in your potential as if you have no limitations.

It’s a “how high can I jump and still land on my feet” attitude, a “let me try to fly just once” perspective.

This is your potential extension.

Are you ready for your stretch?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

Happy Father’s Day

/ The WheatandTares

For so many, Father’s Day can come with a roller coaster of emotions. Every little girl or boy wishes to have a Daddy who loves them, protects them, guides them and defends them, but sometimes, that’s just not how life turns out. And sometimes, we’ve had to say goodbye long before we’re ready.

Sometimes, rolling into the Father’s Day weekend, every thing can be just fine, and then, all of a sudden, you just cloud up and rain. You feel grouchy and agitated for no particular reason. You just want to sleep a little more, isolate a little longer, or pull back a little deeper.

You can’t really put your finger on it at first, and then, the tears roll down like a drenching spring shower, and you realize you really do miss him. Maybe it’s because he was bigger than life, filling the void deep within. Or maybe he was too absent, dropping in whenever he felt suited him, but left you waiting by the door with your bags packed foe a visit way too many times to count.

Or maybe, it’s never a missing or actual longing for him because he was so broken that he tried to break you in ways only nightmares can speak of; yet, the tears come for what could’ve been, should’ve been, and for what never could have been imagined…

So, for all those whose Father’s Day weekend brings with it a bit more complicated feelings than what you’d hoped for, know there is a God who sees you, and He longs to fill that void, heal that brokenness and mend those wounds that you’ve tried desperately to hide or ignore.

He truly is the best Dad a girl could hope for!

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing…

Psalm 68:5-6

The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17