My family wasn’t perfect – no matter what they tell youJ - but it provided an environment that was really conducive to faith. Everybody was basically nice to each other. My folks never fought. We prayed before dinner, which we always ate together. During Advent, we would even read a devotional together before we ate (thank God those things were brief!). Faith was a huge part of our family culture, and it made a big difference in how life was for all of us. Raising kids that way doesn’t guarantee that they won’t mess things up, but it sure increases the odds.
With as much conviction as I could muster at 9 years of age, I made a conscious decision to make Jesus the leader of my life as I tried to understand and honor God. Up to that point and for years to come, the soil had been carefully cultivated so that this would be an obvious, positive decision to make. Never pressured, but certainly celebrated, embracing Christ in this way totally fit in my family. I was planted in good soil.
My guess is most families were not like this. The more stories I hear, the more I appreciate Jesus’ parable about the sower, the seeds, and the soil found in Matthew’s chapter 13. Jesus gives an example of four different types of soil, each affecting whether or not the seed would develop into a producing plant.
Some families are like a well-trod path. The seed scattered there doesn’t stand a chance against the on looking birds. Some families, for many reasons, won’t give faith a chance. The seed of hope that comes with Christ is quickly brushed away and unsupported by parents and siblings.
Some families are like rocky soil. Things start great. Sometimes the entire family gets on board. But when life hits the fan, faith hits the road. God wasn’t the genie in a bottle they expected. Their lack of roots made them vulnerable to the heat that comes with struggle.
Some families are like gardens that become overrun with weeds and thorns. The seedling is there, but it gets choked out. This is extremely common, especially for families who go to church. This soil has been compromised by too many other seeds being allowed to take root. The family wants the love, peace, and hope of Christ, but also wants things in this world which are in conflict with the Way of Christ. Materialism and greed are tops, followed by an obsession to always look good, which is defined usually by somebody else. Compassion for those who are desperate and conviction about things that really matter get crowded out as we pursue other things.
What kind of soil describes you when you first heard about Christ?
Unfortunately, soil doesn’t stay good all by itself. If it’s not nurtured and cultivated, it can become depleted, overrun with weeds, etc.
I know about this, because I allowed it to happen in my life. In fact, I am familiar which each type of soil. I placed myself in environments (friends and places) that were about as conducive to a growing faith as that well-trodden path was to allowing the seed to become a plant. The company I kept did not share my interest in pursuing Christ. So I didn’t, either, for a while.
At other times, I have allowed rocks to come into my soil. Each of my rocks represented a piece of my time. When I don’t pay attention, I find I no longer have the time to cultivate my side of a relationship with God. When the heat turns up, I don’t do well, because my roots have been forced to the shallow places.
Living in the Western part of the world, I am constantly invited to allow into my garden the weeds of greed, lust, materialism, image, etc. On the whole, I think I keep the weeds down. But it is constant work.
In the early years of Israel’s history, a God-inspired law was handed down to the people. Every seventh year, farmers were told to let their fields go fallow. They could eat whatever might come up, but they couldn’t cultivate it. We know now that this was incredibly wise, protecting the soil form losing its nutrients. A long term idea that is still valued to some degree today. But to really do that meant the farmers would take a financial hit that year. It meant their lifestyle would change for those many months. My hunch is that the fields were not the only things that were nourished in that Sabbath year.
Our lives are soil. The good news is that if you grew up with not-so-good soil, you can change that. And if your soil has been neglected over the years – trampled smooth by the wrong company, filled with the rocks of a crowded schedule, or overcome with the weeds of our culture – you can change that, too.
The seeds are always being scattered by the farmer. Seeds that, if cultivated and nurtured, will produce not just a great amount of life, but a life so abundant that it defies logic. That’s your potential. If the soil is good.
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