Thomas Neuberger, Catholic dean from Dietramszell, wrote about the flower meadow in front of the rectory. There is more to it than beautiful flowers and weeds.
“At the rectory in Dietramszell there is a small bed on one side of the house wall. Actually just a kind of green strip. Unfortunately it is not green. A few scattered day lilies grow there, and here and there other weeds sprout that should be plucked out.
To change that, we decided a few weeks ago to simply sow a flower meadow. Sounds beautiful, flowery and easy to care for. Case done. Now the flower meadow is slowly opening and it is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish weeds from weeds. Both grow side by side.
Jesus has a tip for all gardeners. He knows about the problem that in addition to what is wanted, in the field and in the garden, the unwanted always sprout. He advises, however, not to weed, but to let it grow first. Once the plants have grown, it will be easier to tell the difference between the two.
Thomas Neuberger, Catholic pastor in Dietramszell and dean
© MM archive
It quickly becomes clear that Jesus is not talking about gardening here, but about us humans. Just as we divide the plants in the garden into wanted and unwanted, we also judge actions in the categories right and wrong, good and bad. Of course, mistakes must not happen then, and smart, planned, conscious action is considered correct. This is how you subdivide the actions of others and judge them - but then also your own actions. "That was the biggest mistake of my life" or "I made rubbish" are then realizations.
Here one can only recommend taking Jesus' advice to heart: let it grow first. Do not differentiate between right and wrong. What our actions mean, what good or bad consequences they have, often only takes years to tell. We humans are always the sum of our deeds - our good deeds, but also our mistakes. What have you possibly tried and done wrong in your youth - and learned from them? How many things did you have to start just to learn how not to do it? So maybe it's not so much about wrong or not, right or wrong, but about the lessons we learn from it.
It is said that Thomas Alva Edison put this thought into a beautiful saying. After hundreds of attempts to develop a working filament for the light bulb, one of his employees feared that the whole undertaking had failed. Edison's answer sounds more relaxed: “We didn't fail. We now know 1,000 ways in which the light bulb cannot be built. "
So learn to be serene with yourself and with others. Put aside the categories of right and wrong, good and bad. Give the good guy time to grow. Allow time for mistakes to become teaching. And what began as a mistake and wrong path could in the end become a breakthrough.
Think of the discovery of penicillin: Alexander Fleming did not work properly in his research, and so, in addition to the bacterial cultures, molds also grew on the nutrient medium. What started out as carelessness and mistake turned into a revolution in medicine. So not every mistake is wrong - some are also the first step in a new direction. "
by Thomas Neuberger, Catholic dean from Dietramszell
