As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. Matthew 13:20-21 (NLT)
The Obstacle in the Path – The Seed Series – Part 5
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
A few years back, we planted a hedge around our driveway. For the most part, the soil was soft and easy (as much as it could be…) to dig up and make room for our new plants. But the last two meters of land that we had marked out for our hedge was filled with rocks and buried concrete. At the beginning of our find, all the swear words were said. The digging became almost impossible, and I cursed the moment we decided to stretch hedge over this patch of land.
Yet, we persisted. If we hadn’t, we would have been left with half a hedge.
Life can be like that. We embark on a journey, a new venture, a relationship, career, project – whatever it is – when all of a sudden, our beautiful rich soil becomes rocky and unmanageable. Our hearts and spirits can become stony, too.
Bitter, blocked, and bewildered.
Far too quickly, what at first appeared to be a good idea, can become a stone in our shoe, and it can seem easier to give up than keep going.
In his book, The Obstacle is the Way, Ryan Holiday said:
“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”
Stones are painful, hurtful, and just downright annoying. Having a heart full of them is like being sealed alive in a tomb. The potential for life is there, but its pathway is blocked.
The temptation is to avoid the stones. Pretend they’re not there. Make ourselves at home in our tomb. Or sit idle in front of them, pointing blaming fingers at them, ranting and raving and raging at them.
But we must pay attention to the rocks… find out where they are, and work steadily, with great care and grace, to remove them. One by one. Day by day.
It takes a mix of rest and work and risk and courage and hope. Because within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.
Our greatest stories of triumph and transformation do not follow seasons of ease, but seasons of suffering.
The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Jesus shows us that we don’t have to stay locked in our stoney tombs if we choose not to.
Within the soil full of stones lies the potential for life. It is there in us all; in it all. No matter what it looks like on the surface, or even just beneath, hope is always present. The good soil that welcomes the seed – the Divine Kingdom – and nurtures it as it grows, is present in us, stones and all.
Some of us just need the soil turned over and over and over… until it is free.
Plant the whole hedge, even if you run into stones; even if it becomes hard and seemingly impossible work. It will be worth it, and all the more so because the obstacle in the path becomes the path.
Go to To Heal a Heart – The Seed Series – Part 6
Written by Liz Milani
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