Weeds or Cabbage

This is not another blog about food. I really do more than cook and eat...honest. I even have a book coming out in a few weeks.

Fields were on both sides of the road which I had traveled for years. I love watching the crops mature. Every year at least two crops of Chinese cabbages were planted and harvested on the fertile fields, but not this year. Instead of the straight rows of beautiful green cabbages that I was so accustomed to seeing, scraggly weeds were growing in their place; sucking and stripping nutrients from the soil. I observed two things from that field.

1. Something is going to grow in the field.
2. If you want cabbages to grow, you must plant cabbages.

I am absolutely certain the farmer did not plant the weeds in those fields. The weeds grew because the fields had been neglected. Something is being planted in the heart of your children and grandchildren, which will either shape or twist their character. Something is going to grow. If you don’t cultivate, the weeds will grow? Good intentions don’t grow cabbages. Hoping for a good crop just doesn’t produce them; they must be cultivated. If you want your children to know the Bible and the God of the Bible, then you must deliberately plant seeds of truth in their lives. First, cultivation requires plowing. Plowing softens the soil and prepares it to receive the seed. Mom and Dad, are you praying for your children? We pray when they get sick, or when they are experiencing behavior or learning problems, which we should do. Sure we pray for adult children when they have marriage problems or financial struggles. But, plowing is pro-active. Plowing looks to the future for something greater than what you hold now. Plowing prepares for the future by preparing the ground. It requires, time, faith and patience.

You can’t have a harvest without plowing first. Prayer is plowing. Prayer opens the resources and wisdom of heaven for your children. While I can’t and don’t want to do all the praying for my kids, I want to do my part to help them be productive in life. I can plow…I can pray…but the question is not “can we”, it is “will we”? Hoping doesn’t achieve the needed results. Criticizing, nagging, or arguing doesn’t give them a leg-up. Prayer does! Regardless of how well your children are doing, pray into their destiny. Invest in their future through prayer. These are some dreams that I have and pray into for my children:

1. That Jesus Christ will be number one, reigning on the throne of their hearts. Deuteronomy 6:5
2. That they will hear the voice of their Good Shepherd and follow Him closely. John 10:27 3.
3. That they will know and experience the fullness of God’s love. Ephesians 3:16-20 4.
4. That they will daily lay aside every weight and run their race purposefully; serving, loving and giving. Hebrews 12:1 5.
5. That all grace would abound in their lives, so that they will have all they need to fulfill their destiny. 2 Corinthians 9:8

For those of you who, like me, love to pray the scripture, here are some of my favorites. They are also where I derived my prayer goals for my children.

1. Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
2. John 10:27 NLT My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
3. Ephesians 3:16-20 NLT I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
4. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
5. 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
   
   
   Tomorrow, I want to chat with you about planting the seed. I love spending this time with you. I pray God’s richest blessings on you and your family!