D&C 85 - 87

Sometimes we become impatient with people, in that we think that they should see things as clearly as sometimes we think we see things. In my church service, I have come to the table at times with ideas that I think will emphatically teach the members what is important and what their behavior should be. I fail to grasp at times that they are at different stages, they "...are clean, but not all..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 66:3) Sometimes we are impatient even as "...the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 86:5).

It is in the wisdom of the Savior's Parable of the Wheat and Tares that brings us back to what he expects of his leaders.

"...the Lord saith ..., pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.

In the Lord's wisdom he instructs us -

"...let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 86:6 - 7)

Recently, I have come to see the great wisdom in this parable. For several years I have had some crabgrass that grows much faster than the rest of my lawn. It is annoying. After the lawn is mowed, it is difficult to tell the two grasses apart. At times in my frustration, I've began pulling out the grass by the roots trying to get rid of the crabgrass. In doing so, I have left patches of grassless soil. And then the crabgrass comes back even stronger. I have learned that if I wait until just before mowing the lawn, the crabgrass shoots grow, very obviously, above the other grass and can be easily pulled without damaging the other grass.

How simple it becomes as we follow the counsel of the Lord.

"...blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 86:11)