Preparing my soil. Er, I mean soul.

Prayer for the Day

Lord Jesus, send your grace upon me, help me to use it to become the best soil I can be, so when I hear the word I embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance!

Reflection

Most of us like the parable of the sower, because we think we understand it.  We all recognize the analogy that Jesus was making between the believer and the soil and how different people receive the Word, the Seed, of God.

So why did the disciples ask Jesus what it meant?!  Were they really that dense?  Could they not understand even the most apparent analogy?!  It could be that maybe I should look at the parable again, because often in my meditations I realize the Holy Spirit may be trying to teach me new and different things.

And, using His regular tactics with me, He made me think of the tasks I performed earlier today.  I was helping one of my fellow managers clean up his property to bring it up to “community standard”. 

I had the other guy use a leaf blower on the part of the lot that is heavily trod upon.  As expected, it was dry and hard and nothing except the leaves and a lot of dirt was stirred up, so much dirt that one of the neighboring businessmen called with a less than friendly complaint. 

I started by raking up some leaves under a massive oak tree.  The leaves had been there so long they had created mulch, and much vegetation was growing in it.  Mostly weeds, but they were hardy! 

There is a creek that runs along behind the property and it is lined with ferns and rhododendrons that appreciate that type of soil; so much so that they “choke” off anything else that attempts to grow there. 

When the leaves were cleaned up, I determined that to make the front of the store look “friendly” I would have to plant some flowering shrubs.  The existing flower beds have not had anything in them in over 15 years because we just "didn't have the time or the energy", and when I inspected the soil I found out why; it was very dry, almost aerated sand.  I knew I would have to get some potting soil and fertilizer to make the beds receptive to the growth I was going to plant. It indeed would take some time and energy to get a receptive soil. But I was on a mission, and I was not going to leave until the job was done.

After I was done planting, I watered the plants to help them get established.  The sand was still so airy and dry that I thought I was never going to get the water to “pool” around the plants.  Finally, though, I think I got the right mixture of soil and sand. I’m optimistic that with carefully managed maintenance, the new plants will continue to grow and thrive. 

In reflection, I realized that these different soils actually exist in each of us, certainly in me.  Part of us is the trodden footpath, hard and dusty where nothing can grow, and where the wind blows away the seed, and others can get angry at us because we refuse to learn something new.  Part of us is rocky soil where we refuse to let others into our sphere because they look unusual or have different ideas.  We have many thorns and weeds in our soil that choke out the seed. 

The noise, speed and covetousness of our culture makes it very difficult to find silence or time or need to nurture the soil, to weed out and prepare the soil for the good seed, the Good News.

It seems to me that everyone has some rich soil.  But we have to till it and fertilize it.  We need to weed it and dig out the rocks and reclaim more of it as rich earth that will accept everything silently and transform it.  The earth is receptive to sun and rain alike and capable of producing much, much more than it received!  The crux is that no one notices the earth.  It is always there.  We love to be recognized.  We love to have accolades for what we accomplish.  Our habits and sentimentality make us hold on to the familiar, even if it is not good for us.  We are resistant to change and unwilling to take risks.  Pettiness, gossip, appearances and exclusion dictate our relationships with each other.

Humus and humble come from the same root word.  What we forget is human comes from the very same root word and it means soil or earth.  So how can we enrich this soil?  What does it take to recover that hard dusty ground?  How can we dig out those stones of intolerance and hate, or pull out the thorns of wealth, power and prestige?

How about contemplation, affective prayer, or prayers of the heart?  No one says this is easy, but we never learn new things or achieve accomplishments without effort and practice, practice, practice.  If you quiet yourself and pray you will get better at it.  God will see to that.