Good Soil

"Like seed sown on the good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop -thirty, sixty or a hundred times what was sown." Mark 4:20

The sun is not up yet here although it is nearly seven thirty. The snow is deep and persistent. There doesn't seem to be a lot of good news these days and it sure is hard t feel abundant. And it is impossible at times to know how good the soil is, there is so much run off and tainting from pollutants and exhaustion. I am here is this breathtakingly beautiful landscape, among some of the most gifted and rich people in the world. I also know that many feel barren and alone, and that it is beyond their own capacity to produce anything good, let alone in huge quantities.

Jesus' disciples were clueless when they heard this parable and when they were alone they wanted an explanation. They were afraid possibly of the judgement that was upon them. Or they were afraid that they had no idea how to produce a plenteous yield. They had to hear it a least twice that it was God, the farmer who sows the seed, and God the farmer who reaps the harvest in fertile soil, a place where the love and healing of God is nurtured, fed and buried deep so to come to full flower. All of this takes time and complete reliance on God.

Today, I want to stand in these depths of winter, tending the good soil that lies beneath the snow. I want to take the time it requires to open my heart to God so that Christ's love might flourish around me. And I want to completely rely on God today. May we all this day, have the patience and courage to make ourselves ready for the coming seasons of love's growth and transforming possibility, all the while completely dependent of the love of God who tends us like the diligent and loving farmer. Like the farmer that cares and watches when we are still a ways off and still struggling with hope. May we cast all our cares on the author of care.