Goodnight House: The Weeds Among the Wheat

My childhood home in California.

I recently helped clean out my childhood home. It was both bittersweet and healing as I walked through the empty rooms with only clutter remaining. My dad, at 91, finally moved into assisted living. With a sense of relief and gratitude from all ten of his children, he has surrendered to the care of others while he holds on to what independence he can. I have to believe that being cared for can offer him healing, too.

In our final walk-through, after countless hours of purging items and saving a few treasures – a task shared by most of my nine siblings over the last month – I had the strong sense that it was time to leave it behind. My brother, Tom, aptly pointed out that while there were good memories, there were so many weeds, too. It made me think of the parable in Matthew 13:24-30 which describes the weeds that are allowed to grow among the wheat. God’s mercy, always present, changes hearts, heals and transforms. We can never tell the effect of God’s grace amidst the weeds and the wheat. It certainly makes life challenging but so very interesting.

As we closed the door to our childhood home, it occurred to me that maybe it’s the wheat and the weeds, the joys and the suffering, that helps us to grow and become who we were meant to be. 

Goodnight house.