Stories from the boat

Jesus did a lot with boats.

He travelled by boat forwards and backwards across lake Galilee. He slept in a boat on at least one occasion. He calmed a storm from a boat, and walked out to a boat across the water. He escaped the crowds by boat, although not always successfully, and he may even have gone fishing with Peter at least once. And on at least one occasion he told stories and taught the crowds while sitting in a boat. This is one of those stories.

The Parable of the Sower

This isn’t really a parable about the sower, it’s more about the soil. Hard ground, that isn’t really soil at all because it’s so hard. So hard that the seed can’t penetrate the earth and germinate and grow at all. Shallow soil that doesn’t provide enough depth of soil, or retain enough water or have enough nutrients to help a seed grow into a healthy plant. Unprepared soil that is so full of weeds that the new seed, the good seed doesn’t stand a chance as it competes for food and water. And finally good soil. Soil that’s ready for the seed. Soil that’s gives the seed every chance to grow and produce a crop.

The soil of life

How’s the soil of your life? Is it good soil, well prepared for the seed? Perhaps it’s a little neglected in some areas. It’s become a little overgrown. There are reasons. Busyness of life has overtaken you and you just haven’t paid enough attention to the daily job of clearing the weeds.

Perhaps you’ve become so busy that although there aren’t many weeds, you haven’t really dug the ground over recently. You’ve scratched the surface to remove the weeds, but the soil has become shallow and anything that does grow doesn’t seem to last.

It’s possible of course that your life is weed free but that’s because the ground is so hard that not even the weeds can grow there. It’s simply a dry barren place. It’s desperately in need of water and hard, backbreaking work to get the stones out and the soil turned.

Soil, left to it’s own devices will become hard, or shallow or overgrown. It takes effort to keep the weeds at bay and the soil prepared. I know, just have a wander through the orchard and look at what used to be my vegetable garden.

But here’s the good news.

Just below the surface of the old vegetable garden is good soil. I know it’s there, I’ve seen it, I’ve grown things in it. With a little effort the weeds can be cut back, the soil turned over and crops grow. It’s been done before and it will be done again.

Your life is just the same. There’s good soil just below the surface. It’s been neglected, but it’s there and with a little effort it can be made ready again. With God’s help, your life can be a fruitful life for the kingdom of God. It doesn’t have to stay covered in weeds, undug, and unused. But you will have to work at it. There are no easy fixes to nurturing a good garden, no easy fixes to nurturing a fruitful life.

Will you pick up the fork and spade and start to dig? Or are just going to watch the weeds grow?