Today’s scripture: Matthew 13:1-9 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Tammy Mills):
I love this parable! I love the image of Jesus as teacher! I am always reminded of what a great teacher Jesus was when I read one of his great stories.
He never gave people the “right” answer, he never just told them what they wanted to hear, and he didn’t just drill them for “ISTEPS”! (This was ISTEP — Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress — week for my girls, so I am acutely aware of how lousy teaching for a test really is!) Jesus always teaches by asking people to think and come up with their own answers.
As I listened to this story today, I was struck for the first time by the “carelessness” of the farmer. I hadn’t thought of this before. Why wasn’t the farmer more careful about where his seed went? It must have cost him some money and seed planted in lousy soul wasn’t going to produce much of a yield. So why scatter it in such lousy places?
It was my friend Denise, who recently crossed over, who has given me some insight about why the farmer sowed so “carelessly.” Denise sowed the love of Christ everywhere she went. When she and I met I was a foul-mouthed, chimney-smoking drunk with no time or tolerance for anybody! Denise shouldn’t have sowed any love my way. I was lousy soil, but thankfully she did anyway! Denise taught me not to judge or think too much about where I was casting the love of Christ. She was a living example of leaving the outcome up to the universe. Her job was to plant and plant she did. . . even in some rocky soil!
So perhaps the farmer wasn’t so careless after all?
Thought for the day: Where am I sowing my seed? Do I avoid the rocky soil? Do I sweat the “yields”?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.