What Wolf Will I Feed?

Third plant pot in a row! Yay! 

I will have a lot of fun painting this! 

‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ Matthew 13:27

The field in this parable is our heart, and the wheat is anything that comes from the Lord and leads us closer to Him. The weeds therefore are that which brings us farther and farther away from Him. Both the wheat and weeds can be found in the field of our heart.

This leads me to an old Cherokee story about an Indian chief teaching his grandson about life which bears repeating again and again. He told the boy that there is a struggle inside each one of us between two wolves. The dark wolf is evil, full of anger, greed, arrogance, guilt, fear, lies, resentment, revenge, intolerance and unforgiveness. Then there is the white wolf who is good, kind, compassionate, generous, a peacemaker, hopeful, truthful, full of faith and empathy.

Worried, the little boy asked his grandpa which wolf will win. The old Cherokee patted the boy on the head and answered, “The one you feed.” 

Every day, we have the chance to feed these wolves. We are confronted by choices and decisions that we may find trivial, but actually will define our life in the long run. This truth has been put into words by so many. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.” And Sean Covey, the writer of so many best selling books on habits and decisions, wrote, “We become what we repeatedly do.”

Let us fill our minds with the truth and teachings from Jesus, and constantly drink from the source of living water. Let us not allow anger, envy, or any negative emotion dwell in our hearts. Is there anyone we have not forgiven? Take the time to pray for that gift, to be set free from the shackles of unforgiveness. Are we angry, anxious, hopeless? Let us discipline ourselves to fill our minds with gratefulness. Let us feed the “wolf in us” that we want to win!