Seed grain inspectors on the Canadian prairies take great care to ensure the purity of wheat laid aside as seed for the ensuing year's crop. Before any seed grain is approved it is carefully tested for the presence of wild oats, thistles, and other impurities. Farmers, too, exercise every precaution to ensure a weed-free field before sowing, and just before the harvest many can be found in the fields scrutinizing their crops, oftentimes with binoculars, to detect the presence of any stray weed that would interrupt the uniform crown of ripening grain.

Although there may not have been seed inspectors in Jesus' time, Old World farmers of that period must certainly have been interested in a weed-free crop. Thus the image of the wheat and the tares was useful to Jesus in instructing the people. His parable concludes with the injunction by the owner of the field to his servants, "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." ^{Matt. 13:30;} The owner knew that his wheat crop was a good one. He had planted good seed; an enemy's work could not spoil it. And this understanding enabled him to give his reapers proper instructions for harvesting pure wheat.

Human consciousness often appears to be a mixture of wheat and tares, of good and evil, of the evidence of spiritual sense and the testimony of material sense. In times of severe illness, or in cases of strident disagreement between persons or among nations—perhaps blinded by envy, revenge, hatred, or self-depreciation—the field of consciousness may appear to be mostly tares. But such evidence of a mixture is never the reality. Exercising patience and wisdom, the owner of the field did not permit his servants to uproot the tares prematurely, lest his growing crop be damaged.

Taking a hint from this, can we not be wise and patient with the loved one who is a heavy smoker, with the friend who is never on time for meetings and appointments, with the rebellious teen-ager who is ungrateful for parental protection and love, with the incompetent salesclerk, or with the reckless driver? May we not follow the example of the owner of the field, who, undismayed by the visual evidence, discerned the permanent good in his crop and, despite appearances, continued to cherish it? The tares did not taint the quality of a single kernel of the true grain. Nor did the owner waste time being impatient with the tares; he knew they would be separated and burned at the harvest, leaving intact the pure goodness of his wheat.

Man, the pure expression of his Maker, divine Mind, is never contaminated by any form of ungodliness. In truth, man has never departed from holiness and purity; he has ever reflected the divine likeness. This is the eternal fact of man's being. Ignorant mortal sense, beholding a mixture of good and evil, can be corrected by Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "When the evidence of Spirit and matter, Truth and error, seems to commingle, it rests upon foundations which time is wearing away. Mortal mind judges by the testimony of the material senses, until Science obliterates this false testimony." ^{Science and Health, p. 296;}

Error is ripe for destruction only when its nothingness has become apparent to spiritualized consciousness. When the wholly spurious nature of a mortal fault or discord is uncovered and so seen by human consciousness, its seeming reality is thus removed; it is no longer feared, loved, nor enjoyed, and the inharmony vanishes from experience. Thus, addiction and tardiness, rebellion and ingratitude, ignorance and apathy, never touch the harmony, order, beauty, and love of true identity. However, so long as mortal beliefs are acknowledged as belonging to man's identity, they will be indulged either fearfully or ignorantly. It is the development of the truth in consciousness that makes the error ripe for destruction.

A rebellious teen-ager, for example, may express a high standard of personal integrity, a great sensitivity for the fine arts, or perceptive insights into any of the natural sciences. Good seed is maturing, and it needs to be loved, nurtured, and protected. Right qualities may appear, for a time, to be developing side by side with rebellion and ingratitude. But to focus on the error and yank at its roots unwisely could disrupt the unfolding progress of the God-derived qualities and talents in that individual. "Leaving the seed of Truth to its own vitality, it propagates: the tares cannot hinder it," ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 111;} Mrs. Eddy declares.

The master Christian, Christ Jesus, pointed the way: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." ^{John 8:32;} Lovingly he urged that the focus of thought be on the truth. God is ever present, and man reflects the divine nature; that is the truth, which cannot be added to. Discord cannot possibly be real. Mrs. Eddy writes: "The Christian Scientist cannot heal the sick, and take error along with Truth, either in the recognition or approbation of it. This would prevent the possibility of destroying the tares: they must be separated from the wheat before they can be burned, and Jesus foretold the harvest hour and the final destruction of error through this very process,—the sifting and the fire." ^{Mis., pp. 214-215.}

Even premium wheat can be made purer. Through the long months of winter the Canadian seed grower "cleans grain." He sifts each bag of wheat, bushel by bushel, day after day. Although demanding, the work is satisfying, for the goal is always perfection: pure wheat. Through the spirit of the Christ, the manifestation of God, which ever touches human consciousness, we may purify thought of mortal belief in discord, friction, hatred, sickness, disease, and deformity. These tares never contaminate the field of spiritual consciousness, where Mind governs and Soul is supreme.