Then I moved to Amish Country.
I learned it was unthinkable not to have a vegetable garden. Over the years I’ve grown to love gardening (for about a month). I enjoy surface digging, with gloved hands, a pink handled spade and plants that look half grown immediately. However, after numerous failed attempts to grow anything remotely eatable I realized a bumper crop was all about preparing the soil.
This is where the husband comes in handy. He unleashes the big guns, his rotary tilling beast. He and the monster begin by breaking up the hard ground and removing rocks, roots, and debris. I watch (from inside the house) as he spreads the compost. Then he tills again to make sure everything is all mixed together and the soil is rich with the proper ph. When the preparation is finished we plant the seeds.
For the first month or so I am diligent about watering and weed control. My plants look like soldiers in perfect formation. Then it happens. Mutiny! My perfect rows seem to join forces with a multitude of rebel weeds! Under the sweltering sun I begin the process of carefully separating the fragile plants from the thistle.
It’s amazing how weeds can grow anywhere! They come up through cracks in the cement, they tangle around trees, and they raise their thorny heads in dry or wet soil. These little demons will propagate if it rains or shines. Not so with good seed.
If you want to yield a harvest after your investment of time and effort, you have to prepare the ground and be vigilant to protect it from predators. In the parable of the sower Jesus warns us about infertile hearts. He illustrates the point by showing us four types of soil.
Jesus sows the seed, like your pastor who teaches the word each Sunday morning. The seed scatters through the congregation. Some will land in hard hearts where the hearer is not really interested in what God has to say. This person has already shut out the truth and prefers the world’s ideas on how to live a full life. Before long the enemy of our souls makes sure they can’t understand or retain what they hear.
Some seed penetrates hearts that are rocky. These are surface diggers clearing just enough dirt to cover the seed. Rocks represent falling into temptation and unconfused sin. This becomes a dry bed that produces shallow, legalistic or lukewarm Christians. Because these plants get little spiritual moisture fruit bearing dies away.
If your heart is thorny you accept the seed, and get off to a good start, by the cares of the world become so distracting you backslide. The world’s treasures are more important than the things of God. Life’s predators, (worries, riches and lusts) eat the fruit before it has a chance to mature.
The good soil is the prepared heart. There is some effort involved when you become a disciple of Jesus. You need to care for the seed that is sown within you. We can’t leave church on Sunday and forget what was sown by Tuesday. Each day we need to weed out sin and clear the rocks and thistle that litter our lives. If we are lax in our effort we will be overrun with aphids, slugs, and predators that will rob us of a good harvest.
I remember struggling through all three imperfect loams. I went through seasons of disinterest, hanging onto sin, and backsliding far from my church family. Thankfully, someone told me I needed to do more than scratch the surface; I needed to get serious about making Jesus the Lord of my life. The good news is we don’t have to continue growing weeds and rocks in dry unproductive soil. Once I made that decision the Holy Spirit began tilling.
Good soil is a heart yielded to God. If we want a massive harvest and abundant lives we need to patiently and carefully work toward developing the fruit of the spirit in our lives. The parable of the sower asks us all a question. What type of soil are you growing in?
Parable of the Sower
Matthew 13:1-23
Mark 4:1-20
Luke 8:1-15
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