Wild oats are UK agriculture's most competitive weed. Just one wild oat per square metre can mean an estimated 4% drop in yield potential of a wheat or barley crop. Since that one plant may produce several hundred seeds for the next season no efficient farmer dare neglect the wild oat menace.
Bursting out over the top of a crop in May or June the wild oat plant looks good - a harbringer of a rich harvest. Dark green, healthy and broad main leaves (called flag leaves) rise above the wheat or barley plants. Inexperienced pickers sometimes cannot recognise them at this stage. Before long however, the plants tower above the crop and set their seed.
When the seed has ripened it possesses a tough outer coat which allows it to remain dormant over many years. The seed also develops bristles, called `awns', which allow it to `walk' when damp, into crevices in the ground.
If the seed is left to be harvested along with the wheat it devalues the sample. Although the wild oat plant looks healthy and vigorous, its seeds have no nutritional value compared to wheat or barley. They take up a lot of space but are worthless. Its Latin name is Avena Fatua, signifying its deceptive barrenness. There is a lesson in these wild oats for all who have set their minds and hearts to live a Christian life.

Jesus often used agricultural analogies and metaphors to explain how he expected his followers to grow and develop as disciples. Christianity is not a series of unconnected emotional experiences. It is a lifetime commitment to growth - producing, if you like, a `crop' that God can use. We can nurture this crop as we build a strong personal relationship with Jesus Christ, through prayer, studying the scriptures, and then allowing him to guide us in our everyday activities.
Unfortunately unproductive and harmful desires also cry out to be fed and attended to.
The responsibility to respond to God's nurturing love lies within ourselves. Responding to what God desires will lead to a smothering of wrong and selfish pursuits. As any farmer knows, a good, thick, healthy crop is the best defence against wild oats. This is what St. Paul means when he admonishes us to `put aside the deeds of darkness' and `rather, clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature'. (Romans 13: 12, 14).

Or, as St. Peter adds, `for you have spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do - living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness...'
He instructs us to`not live the rest of our earthly life for evil human desires but rather for the will of God'. Perhaps a `Farmers translation' might put it this way: `You have spent enough time sowing wild oats. Give all your attention to God's crop.'
Just as the farmer year in, year out, must watch out for and act against the wild oat menace, we must be vigilant in our lives. Get to know yourself. Ask God to show you where the wild oats are sabotaging what he is producing in you. A wise farmer knows the problem areas in his fields and will give them special examination two or three times in the growing season.
And believe me, there is great satisfaction in rooting out wild oats. It may be hard work, but you are enhancing the good crop and looking forward to a bountiful harvest!

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