A farmer went out to sow his seed… Matthew 13:3 (NIV)
The Possibility of Growth – The Seed Series – Part 7
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
When Jesus told this parable to his audience by the lake, I imagine his listeners wondering, maybe even talking amongst themselves, about who was who: who were like the well-worn path? Or who were full of rocks and stones? Or whose lives were riddled with weeds and thorns?
I’m sure the disciples – and even myself at times – thought they were those whose hearts were ready for the seed. (We are all prone to believe the best of ourselves, and assume the worst of others.) They were the good soil. A place where the seed (Kingdom) could grow strong, tall, and beautiful.
But this isn’t a “who’s who” story. Soil isn’t really the point.
Every parable has its hook and trick, and this one is no different.
I have the potential to be all the conditions listed in this parable at the same time. I can be stoic and concrete, rocky and hardened, full of thorns and weeds; all the while, my heart has at least a tiny patch of good rich soil waiting for new life to be planted in it.
All
at
the
same
time.
And here’s the trick in this parable: while we point fingers and make assumptions about others, there is something else going on in the story.
Life is never black and white. It’s a complex mix of any number of things at any given moment. In every condition Jesus described in his parable, the first common denominator among them all was that the soil was present.
And something else linked every situation, too. To become obsessed with pointing out obstacles in ourselves, and in others, is part of the blindness that keeps us from seeing the one who sows: the constant and relentless farmer.
Our hearts are like untended ground waiting for us to open our eyes and see, and ears to hear, the one who sows… and keeps on sowing.
In and out of season, The Divine scatters his seed. He sows relentlessly, generously, regardless of whether or not we are ready to receive.
He sows while we’re caught up in old habits and reactions. He sows while we lack the discipline and energy to do much with the seed. He sows in the midst of our pain, perhaps even especially in our suffering – even pain so deep we’re sure nothing can grow, The Divine is there with seeds of new life.
One day, despite the odds, a little shoot of green will break through a crack in the pavement; a vine will slowly appear and wrap itself around stones and rocks; the thorns will give way to the most beautiful blooms you’ve ever seen.
This Parable is not about seed or soil. It’s about The Sower.
You may think him a careless farmer. One who wastes seed and energy on unreceptive, compromised ground. But, grace. But God “gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless” (Matt 5:45).
The Divine is an artist, bringing what is not yet out into reality. He has faith and hope that what is not currently showing any signs of receptivity, will one day burst forth with more growth and vitality than you can imagine.
He believes in the possibility of growth even in impossible places. So, he sows. And keeps on sowing. On the rocky paths, the stony way, the weed and thorn infested crops: even in those places, he sees the potential for life.
Instead of figuring out who’s who, what soil needs work, and what soil doesn't, and what they need to do or become, look to the sower.
Do the work in your garden.
Written by Liz Milani
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