Separation of the Tares and the Wheat

I've pondered over this concept a lot. Having read the New Testament and the story (Matt. 13:25-30; D&C 87:1-7; D&C 101:65-66; D&C 38:12; D&C 88:94) and then after having joined the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and seeing it further elucidate my understanding of this parable, of course, I'm looking for how this applies to myself. Am I tare or wheat material? What really identifies me as one or the other.

There have been many historical stories of incidents in this dispensation that bring this subject back to the forefront of my mind. Stories like 'The Faith and Fall of Thomas Marsh' and milk-strippings. The Mormon Battalion. And like the Martin and Willie handcart company and the Rescuers of them. Imagine my shock as a first generation (don't have any pioneer heritage in me) member of the Church and through Relative Finder I've learned that I have ancestors from the Willie handcart company, the Martin handcart company and the Rescuers and the Mormon Battalion. And I'm even related to my husband (3rd generation member of the Church), David Paul Crown, 14th Cousin, 1 time removed through Margaret Warren.

So what happened along the way? Who lost which family member and why? I can't speak for others, I can only speak for myself. But knowing about the Tares and the Wheat, I decided that I would be wheat. Wheat gets sifted in the wind-seemingly carelessly. It's dried out and then finally ground up. Sounds like life to me. 

For me, regardless of the winds that blow (people at church who may say unkind things to or about me or who may treat me as a lesser person); how dried out I may get: being left in a calling (22 years as a Primary teacher or In Service teacher, 5 years as a Librarian and Bear leader)  and away from the Relief Society sisters I have craved to be with; or how ground up I may get with the hard things in life, I still want to be in the wheat bin.

I once read a thought in Readers Digest about coal. "I'd rather be the coal in the bin at church than the coal in the mountain. The coal in the mountain is every bit as good, but the coal in the bin can be used by the Lord."


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