Parable of the Sower

I was reading the Parable of the Sower as part of the Summer Bible Study.  I've read it many times before.    

3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: 

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 

4 As he was scattering the seed, 

some fell along the path,

 and the birds came and ate it up. 

5 Some fell on rocky places,

where it did not have much soil. 

It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 

6 But when the sun came up,

the plants were scorched, and they withered

because they had no root.

 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up 

and choked the plants. 

8 Still other seed fell on good soil, 

where it produced a crop—

a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 

9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Matthew 13:3-9

I've heard this parable as a child and read it as an adult.  Yet I haven't really thought about it the way it was presented in the Soul Keeping book.  I suppose I've always thought about it in terms of how the seed was received by different people.  The seed that was eaten up by the birds fell among those who chose to not believe in God.  Then where it fell among the rocky soil it sprouted but dried up, among the thorns it got choked and in the good soil it thrived.  The soil as I thought of it was how receptive the hearer was to God's word.

Oh but the soil is so much more.  If I think of the soil as the condition of my soul that makes it so much more personal.  Is my soul dried up, shallow or filled with thorns?  Or is my soul a deep rich soil where the seed can take hold and grow and produce a crop.  My soul garden can have any of the different characteristics of soil at any given moment. 

Ask any gardener about how a season of drought affects the health of the plant.  Or the seed is not planted deep enough into the soil to give it a chance to germinate.  Or what happens to the plant when the weeds are not tended to.  Or the soil base is not deep enough for the plant to develop a strong root base.  Each of these conditions will affect the plant and its ability to produce a healthy crop.  The health of the plant is dependent on how deeply rooted it is beneath the soil.   

Is my soul healthy, is it deep, is it well tended?  Is it pruned to encourage new growth?  Is sin taking a strong hold and choking out the seed?  Is it producing a crop?  Not the easiest of questions to answer.

How do I tend the garden of my soul?  Well just as the gardener tends his garden – if it’s dry, irrigation or a simple watering can.  If it’s shallow, nourish the soul, cultivate it.  If it’s weed filled, pull those weeds and be sure to get the it root and all.  Trim the branches where necessary to encourage new growth. Take joy in the rain as it falls from the sky in the form of blessings.  Even the storm provides life sustaining water.  Prayer, God’s Word, gratitude, study, mission focus, disciplines of the faith, fellowship with others, action all provide life sustaining water, nourishment, pruning, and tending to the soul garden.  Reach for the Son!  

If I allow God to be my gardener then it will certainly bear fruit.