Trust, Acceptance and Fortitude

This is us in our garden. We haven't learned how to really enjoy our garden. Sometimes we feel overcome with doubt and worry. Anxiety steals happiness. Sometimes we lose sleep. We become inactive and uninspired.
Last night was like that. Becky and I lay awake at 3:00 AM whispering our worries. It seems like it comes down to money; that if only we had more money we could fix everything that threatens and bothers us. We were glad we had each other to hold.
As I lay there in the dark I thought about the tempting serpent in the garden of Eve and Adam. The idea that money is the solution to all problems is a seductive temptation.
I thought about a parable Jesus told, commonly known as, "the parable of the wheat and the tares." A man sowed good wheat seed on his land. At night his enemy came and sowed tare seeds. When the seed sprouted the hired man came to the land owner and told him, "How come there are tares coming up with the wheat?" The landowner said, "An enemy has done this..." The hired man asked, "Should I have the men pass through the land and pull up the tares?" The landowner said, "No, they will pull up the good with the worthless. Just let both grow together and at harvest first pull up the worthless and bundle them to be burned, then gather up the wheat into the granary."
This parable is told in the book of Matthew, the 13th chapter. The good grows up with the worthless. I see this in many ways from my own thoughts both good and worthless, to people who do nothing but hinder personal, worthwhile endeavor with their conversation; people unworthy of trust.
I tell Becky, "Marriage is our strength. Together we can do as we see fit." Money alone will not fix anything.
Jesus told many parables that came from the earth, out of the garden. I thought on this in the wee hours. I thought about the parable of the sower who sowed seed. Some of the seed landed on the rocks, some landed in the weeds, some was carried off by the wind, some was devoured by the birds, some was trod underfoot. These would not bear fruit. But, mostly the seed landed in fertile ground where it grew to harvest. Jesus explained the seed represents the word of God which is sown in the human heart. Some hearts cannot bear it. But the point made by omission is that life is for the living and we, of the living, should receive strength to live abundantly.

I thought on David, the king of Israel. As a young man he was a shepherd and he kept a flock of sheep. When his flock was attacked, without mercy, by the lion and by the bear, he took offensive action to destroy the murderous beasts without hesitation. He would not, could not, allow his flock to suffer injury. His life was to protect his flock.

I am saying that doing my duty does not mean allowing myself to be eaten alive in my own garden for the sake of being polite or keeping the peace. On the contrary...