Thorny Days

I have come to realize that we are not all the same all the time.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.  Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.  And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.  Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.  But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.  Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  Let anyone with ears listen!"- Matthew 13:1-9

In the parable of the sower, Jesus talks about the different types of ground the seeds fall upon, and the first thought is that each of us is a particular type of ground, from rocky to thorny to good soil.

But what if we are not so consistent as to be one type of soil all the time?

Couldn't we have good soil days as well as rocky days?

What if today turns out to be one of the thorny days, when the seed of faith starts out growing but becomes surrounded and choked off by the myriad intrusions of the world?

If I look at this parable and see the soil as types of people, I will probably want to see myself as good soil and think nothing more of it, but if I see the choices as examples of the types of day I might encounter, my eyes are open to the possibility that I could be all the above.

I think that is what makes this parable so powerful.

We do have rocky days and days when we are just like the path, unreceptive, incapable of accepting anything.

But we also have good soil days, when we are open to the Word, capable of nourishing it and bearing fruits.

Today could be such a day. 

I guess it is a matter of choice.  What type of soil do I want to be today?  And am I ready to change from what I am now to what I could be?

More to come...