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Good Soil

I bought this cute little box garden in Massachusetts over a year ago. The lady who made it called it a fairy garden. She took an old miniature drawer  lined it with plastic, filled it with soil, a few miniature garden tools, a picket fence, wheel barrel and some small plants. I loved it and  brought it home. I placed it in the morning sunlight as instructed and watered it when the soil was dry. 


And yet, those little plants still didn't grow. In fact, they withered away and died. I chalked if off to  my history with living plants. I do not have a green thumb at all. I finally got around to pulling up the dead plants and intended to replant something else, I'm not one to give up. To my surprise  the soil was hard and full of rocks. So it was more likely the quality of the soil rather than the color of my thumb that stunted its growth. Those roots of the planted greens never stood a chance in that unhealthy, rocky soil. 



There is a house for sale in our neighbor whose yard hasn't been attended. As I walked by the other day I noticed the overgrowth of weeds and even saw a couple of flowers that popped up in the seams of the driveway. Not surprisingly those "flowers" withered and died within a couple of days. And in the flower beds themselves, the weeds are beginning to overtake the gorgeous flowers.

All of this reminds me of the story in the New Testament in the book of Matthew. Jesus tells a parable of the four soils. I love this story because it is the first story I ever read in the Bible when I first came to know Jesus. He tells of four types of soil. The path,  rocky places, the weed infested soil and of course the good soil. 

The purpose of this parable told by Jesus is to show us the condition of our hearts (the soil). The seed planted in our hearts represents the Word of God. If we want to grow and be fruitful we need to allow God to cultivate our hearts. Turning the soil, exposing hard rocks and removing the hardness that keeps seeds of truth from taking root. Good, rich soil will cause seeds to sprout,  their roots to go down deep and  growth to happen. 

There was a time in my life that I didn't want to hear the truth. My heart was hard and consequently I did not grow spiritually and my life, marriage and family suffered those consequences. I smile now whenever I reflect back on this scripture in Matthew. He opened my eyes and ears that morning, showing me the condition of my heart and the promises He has to change me. Oh am I forever grateful!  And so thankful He is still at work tending to the rocky places of my heart that stunt my growth. He is a great gardener who definitely has a green thumb. 

- Pressing On 


“As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Matthew 13:4-8 NIV

““I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”
John 15:1 NIV

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