Pleasure’s Pretty Flowers

TO READ: Luke 8:1-18

The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity.

Luke 8:14

Weeds are awful things. Who has ever kept a garden and has not wanted to have a word with Adam about being the cause of all these choking growths? “Cares and riches and pleasures of this life” can very easily choke the spiritual seed God wishes to cultivate. But it doesn’t have to be so. God has given us all things richly to enjoy, and it is the love of money —not money itself —that can become an obsession. But there is no doubt about it —there are many beautiful weeds!

My husband’s favorite color is yellow. Every spring he smiles with satisfaction at our yellow lawn —a sea of golden dandelions, stretching from boundary to boundary. Our neighbors do not share his joy. In fact, spring is a time I try to leave and return to the house in the dark to avoid a confrontation! Dandelions are pretty, but if not dealt with, they will choke the grass and spread to other lawns, causing consternation everywhere.

Pleasures are pretty, too. We need the Sower to test the soil of our lives and make sure the seed of truth is growing strongly and is not being choked by pleasure’s pretty flowers. A garden is intended to produce fruit. We need to give our heavenly Gardener permission to till the garden of our lives and rid our souls of weeds.