THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

February 10, 2021

LIFE IN THE FOLD:

Jon and I own 4 acres of land in Missouri. It was part of the property that my family owns, where my sisters and I grew up. Daddy had deeded those acres to me, when I was single, so I could buy a mobile home and set it up there.

Back around 1995, my stepbrother and a cousin had donated their time and heavy equipment, that they had access to, to level a place to set my mobile home, build a road down to it, dig the water line, dig for the sewer tank and lines, etc. These four acres were overgrown prior to this, so they cleared off enough area for me to set the trailer and for me to have a small yard. The upper side of the driveway was the yard to the house where I had grown up. The lower side was overgrown, and they didn't clear any of that area. Their goal was to help me get the land set up for the mobile home and have a way to get to it. Honestly, that took hours of their time and I so much appreciated all the work that they did on my behalf.

I lived there for about 9 years, before deciding to move to Oklahoma -- for various reasons. Jon and I married in 2005 and have lived in Oklahoma, in the house where he was raised, since that time. We bought the house from Jon's parents and still live there.

After we got married, someone made us an offer on the mobile home in Missouri and we sold it, since it was no longer needed.

But for probably three years, Jon and I spent many weekends during springtime through fall, as well as most of our vacations, in the family home in Missouri that my sisters and I still own. We worked hard to clear those four acres that Daddy had deeded to me.

There was much work that we did by hand. But we also hired a bulldozer operator to come in 3-4 different times to clear the land.

It was amazing the "stuff" we found piled up in all the weeds! There were many times when I was growing up that my parents would buy a pig to fatten up and butcher. Daddy apparently didn't use the same pen all the time, but would string up barbed wire around some trees to pen the hog up. I remember our summer garden spot moving a couple times, so perhaps that was one reason he changed pen locations. I'm not really sure! But Jon spent hours pulling old barbed wire that was hidden in the tall grass and grown into trees and buried down in the dirt; wire that had been there for numerous years.

Daddy had rented the house for many years and one of the renters and his son worked on vehicles and were front yard mechanics. They had thrown old car pieces and tires over the side of the hill. We even found an old refrigerator.

The bulldozer operator had to be really careful the first time he came, because you don't want to get barbed wire wrapped in the tracks of the dozer. As overgrown as it was, it made it hard to see what was underneath all of the weeds, vines and scrub brush. There was a pond, that was still there, but no longer held water due to being so overgrown.

The guy running the bulldozer pushed as much of the junk as he could into one pile, and Jon worked by hand to gather up all the wire and added to that heap of junk. One of my cousins brought down his big flatbed trailer and loaded it up and hauled most of it off. Jon and I loaded up the back of our truck and hauled off a load of old tires.

I will be honest, Jon did a whole lot more work than I did! I HATE snakes and it looked way too scary and snaky for my comfort. But I did help quite a bit.

Finally, we got the land all cleared and looking nice. We planted grass seed where it had been dozed, cleaned the pond out, and got it all junk-free.

Here's the thing: cleaned and junk-free, does not mean maintenance-free! In order to keep the shrub brush and vines under control and trees from sprouting up and taking over, we have it bush-hogged once or twice a year.

After Jon and I got the land looking really nice, someone commented to us that it wasn't fair that we had such nice property. We didn't say much, but we both thought, "You have no idea the amount of intensive labor and the expense involved in getting it looking this well!" They hadn't walked through the property to see how much junk was there, hadn't been there while we were working to see how hard we labored or how many hours we invested, nor did they see the checks we wrote out for the dozer work. They saw the finished result and based their opinion on that.

In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus tells this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while the men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. Now when the stalk sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. So the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?' But he replied, 'An enemy did this.' Now the slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go out and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, for while you are gathering up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time, I will tell the reapers, 'First, gather up the weeds and tie them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Many of us have good seed that has been sown into our lives. We love Jesus, we are kind, we love other people, we do good works, we pray, we read our bible..... we have lots of good seeds within us that can produce a fruitful harvest.

But then the Satan, our enemy, comes and sows some weeds among that good seed. When that happens and those seeds began to take root and grow, we have a decision to make; do we cultivate and care for those weeds, or do we pull them out by the roots? It seems like it should be an easy answer and a no-brainer! But too often, we nurture those weeds and allow them room to grow.

The weeds can be criticism, negative speaking and thinking, being judgmental, harboring un-forgiveness, holding onto bitterness or other negative emotions, habits that are spiritually detrimental, spiritual laziness and complacency, holding onto past hurts, clinging to guilt and shame and condemnation, gossip, selfishness.... and the list could go on and on.

Those weeds took root and grow and instead of allowing God to cut them off and prune us, we try to produce a good, healthy life and mindset, while hanging onto those weeds and allowing them to become more and more deeply rooted and engrained within us.

In the parable, there came a time when the weeds were separated from the wheat and were burned up. The farmer didn't bundle the good and bad together; but separated them out and got rid of the bad. He didn't throw everything out and said, "Forget it! This is too much work and too hard!" But he tenaciously had the weeds separated from the wheat, so that he could burn and get rid of the weeds and utilize the wheat.

When Jon and I started cleaning off the property, there were many good benefits there. There were healthy, mature trees. There was good soil. I'm sure that there was even good grass mixed in with the weeds. There were some wildflowers. We knew if we could get rid of the junk and the brush, we would have a pretty piece of property to enjoy. We never once thought, "This isn't worth it! Let's just sell the land and get rid of it!" We knew the value of what was ours, but in order to increase that value, we had to get dirty and do a lot of work.

Jesus knows our value! He never looks at any of us and thinks, "Forget it! They've allowed too much stuff in their lives and are too much work!" But He sees our worth and desires for us to submit to Him and allow Him to get rid of all the weeds and things that have tried to take over and cover up all that is good.

Sometimes others may look at us and think, "Their life is so easy! They don't deserve all the blessings that are being poured out upon them. I should get what they have!" What they don't see is the pruning and cultivating and pulling of weeds that Jesus had to do in our lives to get us to where we are today. They don't see the work that was involved, the time we spent allowing Jesus to prune us and how hard that was at times, and what all we went through to bring us to our current level of spirituality.

It is worth it to allow Jesus to prune us and pull out the weeds and dig out roots and get rid of things that don't belong in our lives; things that are not beneficial and that hinder us spiritually. It's not fun, and it takes time and work and commitment. But it's much better than allowing all of those detrimental weeds that Satan tries to plant within us to grow. Don't give the devil any satisfaction of allowing any seeds he tries to sow to take root and grow.

Things in our society are very negative and there is a lot of division within our nation. We can become disheartened, afraid, and worried and spend too much time fretting about the current state of affairs.

Instead, lets do what Philippians 4:8 says: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable -- if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise -- dwell on these things." When we do this, we leave no room for negative emotions and fear. We recognize weeds when they are sown, and immediately ask Jesus to pull them out.

I need to work at being better at this. How about you?

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

We spent many weekends cleaning that land. I'd guess we spent about 10 weekends each year for about 3 years working hard on it. The first time we had it dozed, you could see an amazing change, but it looked barren. A month later, the grass was growing well, and it looked better. Later, we missed a few weeks in a row, and it looked like the weeds had overtaken the land again. But we were able to mow it then, and it looked good. Over time, we eventually got it to a point where it looks good for months at a time, with only needing a mowing most of the time.

It took many trips, and many hours each time that first year. The second year, it still took work, but not as much. And now, it isn't much work at all.

That can be the same way in our hearts. It can take a lot of effort at first. But in time, it becomes easier, as long as we keep putting in effort.

I'd also like to point out that the land helped a great deal with fertilizing and providing a bed for the good grass to grow. But the land didn't do all the work. In the same way, no one has to clean themselves up and make themselves perfect for God to come in. God will do most of the work; we have to be receptive to it, and allow Him to make those changes that are needed.

ON THE MENEWE:

Cherry Fluff

Stir all ingredients together. Sprinkle nuts on top. Refrigerate until ready to use.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Church ladies with typewriters.... before spell checkers were available. These sentences (with all the bloopers) actually appeared in church bulletins:

*The fasting and prayer conference includes meals.

*The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'

*Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

*Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.

*Don't let worry kill you off -- let the church help.

*The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

*Potluck supper at 5:00 PM -- prayer and medication to follow.

*The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Sometimes God holds you back temporarily until the road is safe and clear to continue.

Be thankful for the stall. - TobyMac

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org