Good Soil

" Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”Matthew 13:8-9

We have lived in very few places where we had the chance to have a huge garden in our yard, although we have ached to do just that. When we lived in Colorado, we had a communal garden with several friends, one of whom owns and operates very successful nurseries. The group of us planted and cared for this garden, only to be done in by locust - it was the year of the locust and they ate all of our fledgling plants in short order. The lack of back yard garden space has never stopped us from planting herbs and some vegetables in pots, growing where we could find light to place the pots. It is amazing what can grow with a little light and some determination.

Jesus told stories that his disciples and followers could understand, and even I can understand about scattering seed and having good and bad soil. Real life and good intentions can get in the way of all sorts of good seeds - whether it is seed planted for basic food or seeds planted for our faith. To have good soil we need good fertilizer - which means there is a great deal of mess and smell to having really good soil. Not unlike our personal lives, living with challenges, messy and smelly, can enrich our faith, our lives and our personalities.

Today, I want to remember and live with the knowledge that those things which I consider messy and smelly right now might just be enriching the ground of my being. The challenges we face can tear us apart or they can be the fodder for our rebirth, our transformation. So today I want to ask God to help me be rich soil, willing to be turned and nurtured, willing to face the messy, smelly challenges of my life, knowing that God is bringing about good harvest. May we all trust God to use the challenges we face today as fertile ground for ourselves and our communities.