Family Photos- October 2011

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Many, many thanks to my dear friend Heather for her wonderful work.

the soil of your heart

In Matthew 13, we find Jesus speaking to a crowd in parables.  He says to them, "A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.  Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, 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 feel among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears, let him hear."  (Matt 13:1-9)

Maybe you, like me, have heard this story many times.  I have heard it so many times that I could even tell you (in my best Sunday School voice of course) exactly what it means.  However recently, the Lord prepared the soil of my heart and allowed me to see how I have lived this very parable out in my own life.

I've gone to church all my life.  As a kid, I was involved in Sunday School.  As a youth, youth group and missions.  As a college age kid, I worked as a small group leader for some pretty awesome middle school kids.  Even back then, I knew without a doubt that God was real.  I had seen him work in my life and in others.  I had felt his presence at church, youth retreats, camps, missions trips.  But my life, didn't really bear much fruit.  I was basically living from one spiritual high to the next.  Each time that I felt close to God, I promised myself that I would stay close to him but each time as life began to move on, my closeness to him dwindled.  Most of the time I didn't feel like doing much about it, I just waited for the next great experience and the next great high.  My heart was rocky soil.  Jesus explained the parable to his disciples after the crowd was gone.  He told them, "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away."  (Matt 13:20-21)  That was me!  So happy to be in the Lord's presence, so eager to hear his voice but yet not willing to keep up with my faith when things got tough or if it was gonna mean that I would have to pick up my bible and read for myself.  I was lazy about my faith.  And in the end I was telling God that remaining in him (John 15:9-10) was too much work and couldn't possibly be worth it.

O, how grateful I am!  That the Lord thought that changing my heart, preparing it to be good soil, was worth His effort!  I remember what it was like to live with a rocky soil heart.  I pray that I will never forget it!  So that I will forever have this gratefulness and this eagerness to not only receive God's word but to use it to bear good fruit.  I encourage you to read this parable from your own bible and ask the Lord what the soil of your heart is like.