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I was reading a children’s Bible the other morning and stumbled across the story of the ‘Sower’. Most everyone is familiar with the story in Matthew 13 concerning the parable that speaks of a man ‘sowing’ seeds that fall on the different types of ground. Some of the ground was hard and there was little purchase for the seed to grow. Other ground was amongst weeds that choked off the seed as it grew. But then, the ‘prize’ location, ‘some seeds fell on ‘good ground’ where it grew 30, 60 and 100 times more then what was sown.
Paul Martinelli, President of the John Maxwell team, talks about ‘agreements’ we make with ourselves when we ‘say’ or hear something. Agreements are sorta like our internal mechanism around what we believe and think about a topic. Some of these agreements are good, some…maybe not so much. I remember clearly, over the years of hearing this parable that the story of the ‘Sower’ became a ‘peformance gig’ in Christianity. Meaning, I somehow have to figure out how to make sure my seeds, my gifts, my talents are sown on good ground. I am 100% responsible for making my seeds grow. If you pause and think of this for a minute, you realize how this starts to create a situation where ‘we’ become the judge of ‘where’ and ‘who’ should, receive such gifts. Talk about an unconscious derailment of the truth? How many lives have been destroyed, lost or minimized because ‘someone’, some ‘group’ takes it upon themselves to ‘set themselves apart’ because their gifts should only be shared with ‘one’ group of people, or belief system?
No matter your take on religions of the world, we all have to agree that millions of lives have been lost over humanity’s take on God’s wishes.
As gently as I know how to say and using the phrase many of us have heard, you “grow where you are planted”. That idea leans to the place of ‘you are not always in control of your planting. In The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Toilken illustrates for us, when his characters of Gandolf the Grey and Frodo are talking about the difficult predicament they are in.
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Taking the story of Matthew 13 and turning it into performance power place of making sure the seeds, gifts you are given grow can easily turn into a judgment of thinking ‘you’ know where should be planted. Truly, you don’t have a lot to do with ‘where’ you are. Like family, you really don’t have a lot of say unless you choose to start filtering yourself away from where you live, where are you. My point more then anything else is let us not become judgemental and critical towards those we meet where we are at.
I find it dangerous that so often we try and turn the love of Christ into being a better Christain, which in turns becomes some performance-based measurement with other thoughts, other religions, other people. The need to be ‘right’ over ‘good’ easily sways us to lose sight of the deep evidence we hold true. My wife says often to me, ‘True is True’ no matter where you look.
The other unconscience derailment I see is that if you don’t find how to make your gifts, your seeds ‘grow’ 30, 60 and 100 fold you are in big trouble buddy. Let me ask…if we are to grow where planted, how is it now a fear-driven process to control and make sure the growth is exponential? Is that actually helpful in any way? Let me ask you a direct, honest question…How much control do you think you really have?
Yes we are co-workers with God and He clearly delights and letting us be a part of His work but it’s His work. What happens if you can’t make your seeds grow by this measurement? What happens if you are really only and 15% growth person? Or better yet, what happens if you are a mix of them all?
I think one of the best sermons I ever heard on this story was from an Episcopal Prients a few years back. His conclusion was that in our lives, some of our seeds fall on good ground, stony ground and on the ground that choked out the plants. For whatever, reason until that time, all I ever thought was that it was ‘all or nothing’. It’s clear that our lives are a mix of sowing and reaping and running a comparative chart to see how we ‘measure’ up misses the point.
Instead of looking at everything as a ‘warning’ or fear-based threat, maybe understand that NOTHING in life is a straight line and instead of seeing and hearing competition, or performance-based measurement that can easily separate us from others because we are ‘better’.
Walking in grace with others and ourselves understanding the times and place we walk are not always in our control gives life and freedom, not separation and competition.
Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Now that is an agreement we can make consciously.
Peace on your Journey this week.
One Response
One thought: Each moment in time we are in a slightly different place which gives us myriads of opportunities to sow our seeds. We may or may not have control over where we are, but we do have control over how often we sow, as well as over the quality of our seeds. So perhaps the ultimate question as we look back on our lives and as we plan for our futures is: what is the quality of the seeds we have been or will be planting, and how consistently have we been, or will we be planting them?