Catching Seed

   The Scripture for today contains the section known as the parable of the sower, or, to some, the parable of the seed, or the parable of the ground. This familiar story is one that Jesus uses in his teaching, both to the twelve disciples and also the crowd in general.

   When I read it again, I think first of all that I have read it and heard messages on this passage a number of times. What could be in it for me this time around? But as I think on it, the thought comes that the main ingredient in it is the ground. The sower is the same, the seed is the same, but only the ground changes.

   The ground can represent my life in its various reactions to the word as sown by God. There is the path, the beaten down soil that has no time to take in the seed. Activity and busyness consume all my time and there is nothing left for what really matters.

   There is also the rocky ground, filled with stones of disinterest, of "ho hum I've heard this before", or of a fleeting interest, but no lasting reflection on any meaning. There is some soil there, enough to catch some seed and cause it to sprout, but no deepness of study to see what it really means in my life.

   Then there is the thorny and weedy ground. There is soil there that will produce something, but there is so much stuff already there that there is no room for anything better. Good seeds can germinate and grow initially, but then the things that I just have to do, take all my time and effort. 

   There is also that "good soil", that plowed ground that is ready to receive. It has been prepared for production and can yield a crop.

   In my mind's eye I see that seed spinning from a cyclone seeder on a sidewalk, a gravel drive, a weedy patch off to the side and on ground in a yard that has been raked and somewhat prepared to receive it. Just me, my seeder and my yard.

   This analogy is a reflection of my time of study. If I make it a priority, the first thing in the day, I find that my mind is open to what God wants to show me. If I get busy in doing stuff and do not sit down till later, the busyness and concerns of the day have already taken root and make it difficult to really get into it. 

   God is sowing, but is my ground prepared to receive?