The Parable of The Wild Parsnip

My friends and I are in the process of restoring a local school's disc golf course. Our planning began in January. Little did we know what was hidden under the winter snow.

Now with the summer grasses growing tall we have discovered an invasive species of weed called wild parsnip. The sap of the plant, when exposed to sunlight, can cause massive blistering on human skin. Wonderful.

I spoke with the school's grounds keeper and we both agreed that the best and simplest solution is to warn players of the danger and let the players play.

As I thought about our decision I thought of God's plan for us, placing us in this world in the midst of struggles and strife, sickness and death. Why would He do that? The answer is that He wants us to learn and grow. Wild parsnip is simply a lesson to be learned.

"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ” - Matthew 13:24-30

Life is filled with lessons we must learn. The parable of the parsnip is this: the world is filled with sin and corruption. It is good for us to know that sin is all around us so that we can avoid it. The key to our survival is being able to identify sin when we see it and then to physically and spiritually stay away from it.

The wild parsnip lesson comes with pain attached to it. So do many of life's lessons. Our job is to learn. Sometimes we learn through heeding the advice of others. Sometimes we have to experience that pain ourselves.

Read the Bible. Become informed about all of the traps that Satan has laid out for us. If we can identify those traps, we can avoid them AND learn from them.