“They Shall Be Mine,” and now, “Wee Willie Wheat” are two books she wrote with a desire that the way of salvation be made very clear in accordance with the Saviour’s own words, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me.” Wee Willie Wheat is an allegory written shortly before her Master called her home on February 1, 1987 and is based on John 12:24, “Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abideth alone: but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit.” She was married over 50 years to a wheat farmer. Her varied experiences of rural life provided a background for the story you are about to read.

She loved Zechariah 8:4,5 “The streets of Jerusalem… shall be full of boys and girls playing…” linking them with the Lord Jesus’ own words in Luke 14:23 “Compel them (boys and girls) to come in, that my house may be filled.” Knowing that her love and interest went far beyond the circle of her own children, her family has gathered up the pages to bind them into a book. She trusted the book would draw hearts to Christ and fulfill her prayerful desire that heaven be filled with happy boys and girls. She desired that they would know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and Lord and be found watching for Him to take them to the Father’s house in heaven. The harvest is just about to take place – Are you ready to be gathered in?

Wee Willie Wheat

Willie Wheat felt himself slipping. “What’s goin’ on here?” he gulped. His brother Wally, it seemed, was moving along right beside him on the outgoing tide of wheat.

Wally yawned, “Well, finally something must be happening… I thought we were going to have to stay here forever, just jammed together in this big wheat elevator.”

“Well, Mother told us before harvest last fall that we’d probably be stored all winter in here. It must be getting springtime, suppose?”

“Whee!” cried their sister Winnie gleefully as she glided right past them. “This is fun! It’s just like going down a big slide.” There were so many of them slipping and sliding along… and way up ahead was a brightness that hurt Willie’s eyes.

“Hang tight!” he said, taking his twin brother’s hand, “so we can stay together. We should have grabbed Winnie’s hand, too… I can’t see her anywhere now.”

Suddenly, they slid from the dark hold of the wheat elevator and tumbled from a chute, like a waterfall down… down… into the mouth of a big dark hole.

“We’ve been swallowed alive!” gasped Wally, as soon as he could catch his breath.

“No, I think we’re O.K. It’s a big gunny sack we’re in now.”

They had been dusted with some chemicals to kill insects, and they sputtered and tried to clear their eyes. After several sneezes, they settled down more comfortably and could peek out of the windows.

“Say, now we’re going for a truck ride!”

“Oh, look at the little lambs frisking together over there. Aren’t they cute!” exclaimed Wally.

“The leaves of the trees are so green when they’ve just budded out … and look at that little stream over there,” exclaimed Willie. “I wish we could go wading and get some of this dust washed off.” He said wistfully.

“You’d drown,” retorted Wally. “We’re not fish, you know.”

After what seemed like hours and hours of riding along, they turned into a field and drove through soft dirt to the top of a hill… and then the motor stopped.

All was quiet. The sun was setting, and they had a wonderful view of the gorgeous colors glowing in the sky. “Our God created all this,” mused Willie, “what must it have been in the beginning?”

“And it was good,” breathed Wally.

Soon the darkness closed in, and Willie heard a coyote howl not too far off. Then the whole pack joined in with a chorus of yips and shrill barks.

“It’s so good to see the stars again, isn’t it, Willie? Look, the moon’s coming up over there.”

“God is always on time… He never sleeps. You better not be a sleepyhead tomorrow, ‘cause these farmers start early, from what I hear.”

Sure enough, when the sun’s first rays peeped over the horizon, they saw some machinery headed right toward them.

“Look at that tractor!” gasped Willie. “That’s no little tractor… it’s a big 8-wheeler… and it’s pulling a machine that plants the seeds, We’re going to have the new experience that Father told us about… remember?”

Shortly, strong hands picked up the sack and dumped it, along with others, into the top of the seeder. Who should be right next to them but Winnie!

“Hey, how’d you get here?” she greeted them.

“Same as you did, I guess… let’s all stay close together this time,” said Willie, wiggling closer to her side and grasping her hand.

“Where are we going now?” asked Winnie.

“They’re going to settle us in a place where we will learn God’s will for us and what we can do to serve Him.”

“Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up.” Matthew 13:3-4.

“I hope that doesn’t happen to me!” said Wally.

“Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Matthew 13:3-9

The men handling the sacks checked the quality of the seed by picking out a small handful and shaking them about in their hands. “It looks like good, clean wheat – and quite well-formed,” said one. Winnie puckered up and almost cried, thinking she was being criticized. But Willie and Wally said, “Don’t let it bother you… we’ll show them what we can do!”

Back into the seeder they were tossed, and soon the machinery was in motion. Up those rolling hills and down they traveled, behind the roaring tractor.

Soon they felt themselves slipping down a long tube toward the ground. They held hands tightly, blocking the exit.

“That seeder is clogged,” said Dan. “We’ll have a ‘skip’ in the field if I don’t get it free right away.” He poked a finger into the seeder tube and pushed Willie, Wally and Winnie out so fast they popped right down into a row and were covered with dirt before you could say “scat”.

“I think this will be a nice place,” said Winnie. “It’s not a bit rocky or anything like that… but I don’t want to stay down here all my life, do you?”

“You don’t have to… don’t you remember Father telling us of that ‘new life’ to be lived?”

Jesus unlocked these mysteries of life for us when He was here. He said, “I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 13:35

When boys or girls, accept the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and are cleansed from their sins by the precious blood that He shed on Calvary’s cross, they are given new and everlasting life, even here and now. He gives us the desire and the power to live for Him and to bring forth fruit for heaven.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection… consider yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our lord.” Romans 6:5,11

“This is much better than being locked up in that elevator prison. You know, I think it’s raining… doesn’t that feel good?”

“Yes, but I’m sleepy, I’m going to have a snooze.”

Several weeks later, Willie found he couldn’t button up his vest properly when he woke up. Oh well, it didn’t matter he wasn’t going anywhere today.

But Winnie noticed and scolded: “What’s the matter with us… the seam on this side of my dress popped wide open this morning, and it looks like you’ve changed too, Wally… look at the zipper on your jacket!”

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abideth alone, but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24

It was now April; the weather grew warm. When Willie opened his eyes one morning, he was peeking out of the ground. Everything was strange and new… a few other sprouts were about him that he did not recognize.

On the other side of him, however, he was amazed to see a whole field of darker-looking wheat, four or five inches tall. Where did it all come from? … and how did it get so big?

Just then Winnie peeked out–wide-eyed and wondering. “Hey, Willie, did you just sprout up this morning, too? Isn’t this exciting?”

“Where’s Wally, I wonder?”

“Probably still sleeping in… if I know him.”

He turned to the taller, darker wheat and asked politely, “What country did you come from?”

One fine young blade chuckled… “We’re from north of here… we’re glad to meet some new neighbors.

“Better lower your heads… here comes a spray plane”, he shouted, as a plane made a sudden noisy attack swooping down low over them. Coming out of the dive, it flew off again, leaving a film of spray dripping from the wheat.

Willie was shaking his head when he heard a howl of protest from Wally. “Who’s getting all that stuff in my eyes?” he sputtered.

“Well, it’s all over with now, so don’t get uptight about a little spray,” said the young blade. “It’s to keep the broadleaf and wild oats down.”

With each new day, Willie gained a new growth… but he eyed his neighbors rather enviously… they were far taller than he.

One day he complained, “I’m so thirsty… if only I could have a drink.”

“Well, listen to me, and see if you can wiggle your toes and send your roots down deeper. There’s always more moisture farther down,” said one kind lady.

“How do you know?” countered Winnie. “I’m thirsty, too, and I’ve been wiggling my toes, but it seems like I’m standing on some ‘hard dirt’.”

“I tried real hard and broke through some, too,” offered another neighbor; “I think you can, also.” “The deeper your roots, the better the quality your grain will be for God.”

A tall young fellow close to Winnie snickered, “If you take the advise of these oldies, you’ll never get anywhere. Hey, I think you’re cute!”

Winnie looked down, unable to meet his bold gaze.

Wally spoke up, “What’s your name?”

“Otis,” replied the handsome young fellow, “what’s yours?”

“Wally Wheat… and this is my brother Willie.”

He nodded… and they sort of admired the careless ease and amused look on his face. He seemed to be “in the know”, and talked to everyone around.

At night, a moisture filled the air, and dew collected on the underside of their leaves for them to drink.

“God knows we need it,” said Winnie, and at the same time she noticed Otis turn away.

In the morning the sun’s first rays tinted the eastern sky. “How beautiful is the touch of the Master Artist!” she exclaimed.

Again Otis turned away.

Winnie had grown quite fond of the older couple nearby and asked them many questions.”Why do you turn toward the sun every morning?”

“God sends us light for each new day. The more we look to Him, the more He helps us to fulfill His will. We have lived longer than you have, because we were planted last fall and have endured a long, cold winter. We’ve learned to value the sunshine, and even though the weather is sometimes hot now, we could not do without the Light.”

Behind the back of his hand, Otis snickered, and just at that moment Wally caught him taking his food.

“Hey, that’s mine!” he shouted.

“Call me a thief, do you? You little runt!!”

Willie was indignant to hear his brother insulted like that, but he could hardly tackle Otis… he was head and shoulders above the whole crowd. There were other things that bothered him… yet, Winnie seemed oblivious that anything was wrong and welcomed his attention.

“Where did Otis come from?” Willie later asked his older friends.

“While men slept, the enemy came and planted wild oats among the wheat and went his way… The servants said unto Him, will You have us go and gather the wild oats up?” But He said, “No, lest while you gather up the wild oats, you root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, gather you together first the wild oats and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:25–30

Otis never seemed hungry nor thirsty like Willie was, and Willie couldn’t figure out how Otis stood so straight and tall either, when Willie could hardly hold up his head.

His old neighbor said wisely, “You have golden kernels of wheat forming for the Lord of the Harvest, that’s why.”

Winnie too, whimpered for a drink, but Otis kidded her, “You’re doing fine, Honey… soon the moon will be out, and it’ll be nice and cool, and we can have some fun!”

Wally was quite surrounded by tall guys like Otis. If he complained when they took more than their share of food or water, they just tossed their heads and whistled a jaunty tune, snapping their fingers and swaying together.

“We’ve got things to do and places to go,” they said loftily. “If it weren’t for guys like you who stay green behind the ears so long, we’d have been out of here and on our way before this.”

One day two men came walking into the field. “It looks like the winter wheat is ready to harvest,” said one.

“I know, and the spring wheat has developed fast because of the rain shortage. I think it will be ready early; we can begin to harvest it as soon as we’ve finished with the winter wheat. I must hire the young men to work in the field and remove the wild oats tomorrow. There’s quite a lot of wild oats, you notice, and we don’t want to seed any more wild oats, that’s for sure!”

“How can they be sure which is which?”

“Well, with the wild oats, you’ll notice the heart of it is always black, It really shows up at this stage. When it is younger, it is almost impossible to tell the difference except under very close examination. The leaves of the wheat turn toward the sun. The leaves of the wild oats turn away and wrap in the opposite direction. The wild oats are absolutely good for nothing… they rob the soil of nourishment that the wheat should have.”

Willie heard every word they said. One of the farmers pulled a few heads from the winter wheat and compared it with a few heads of the spring wheat.

“Look at the difference here, Dan,” he remarked. “These that received the benefit of both the early and latter rains are filled out well; but the kernels in the spring wheat are smaller and somewhat pinched. They really have turned out better than I had expected though, with so little rain this season. Like us, they need the ‘Water of the Word’ to grow.”

Willie later told Wally what he had heard the farmer say, and they were glad he had found that they had brought forth more than sixtyfold.

They were both watching when several young fellows came out into the field the next morning. “We’ve got lots of ground to cover if we’re going to get this field clean,” said Troy, as he reached for some tall stalks of wild oats. On they came, passing by Willie, Wally and Winnie, but seeing Otis with his look of scorn, Troy yanked him out roots and all, and dumped him into the gunny sack of wild oats.

“Behold a sower went forth to sow. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the Kingdom; but the wild oats are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the wild oats are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.”

“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Matthew 13:3-44

Winnie gave a big sigh as she turned and asked, “Wally, aren’t you glad we know and believe the love that God has for us?”

“Yes,” Wally answered, “the fruit of the Spirit can begin to grow as soon as we come to the Lord Jesus, realizing our old nature is bad, and only He can cleanse us and give us newness of life and help us to be ready for the harvest time.”

Willie waved his arms and pointed to the big combines. “Look,” he shouted, “harvest is going to begin at anytime now! Soon we will all be gathered into our Father’s heavenly garner – safe for all eternity!”.

“He that goeth forth
and weepeth, bearing
precious seed shall
doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing
his sheaves with him.”
Psalms 126:6