Raising Sowers
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Homemaking on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:08 AM
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
The timing wasn’t intentional, but couldn’t have been more fortuitous - about two weeks ago, my eldest son came out to the kitchen and said, “Mom, can I plant my own garden?” Eric is almost seventeen, so his request for a garden wasn’t what I was expecting! We’ve had gardens on and off over the last several years (more off than on lately!), so we already had a raised bed in place. But it had suffered from great neglect, so as part of the garden’s resurrection we spent a few hours hoeing, tilling, and amending the soil. Younger brother Adam got in on the act, and within a day we had the start of a vibrant vegetable patch. The prep work to get the dead soil ready was the hardest part of the project, so we spent a great deal of time talking about why the sweat equity involved in busting up clumps of clay and removing big rocks was essential to the process.
Had I been prepared, I would have been thrilled to have lovingly quoted this Sunday’s Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:1-23) to the boys as we worked. Sadly, I wasn’t thinking that far ahead! But the garden lesson must have clicked for Adam because as we sat listening to the gospel on Sunday he leaned over and gave me a big smile. How lovely it is when the word of God reaches right into your heart and speaks such a clear and profound message, as if it were intended especially for you that day!
After two weeks, our little garden is beginning to bear fruit and before we know it, we’ll have more zucchini than we can eat. In the meantime, the work of sowing hearts that are open to hearing and understanding the word of God continues!
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