In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one. Amen.

Begin by reading in Luke 8:5-15. This is the very familiar parable of the sower. The man went out, and he scattered seed all over his farm or his field, really. Some had landed on the path, some on rocky areas, some on thorns, and some—most, of course—landed on the good ground, and it grew on the good ground very well. But on the path it got trampled on, the birds ate it; on the rocks it withered; on the thorns it got choked. However, it still grew well on that good ground. And of course the Lord relates this to the different hearts, the different people who hear the Gospel.

I’m going to do something just very slightly different, because I know that at times I’m each of those people. As I walk through that field, sometimes I’m on the path, and when the good news comes to me, I trample it and the birds come down and they eat it up. The devil takes it out of my heart, and I lose it. Other times, I’m in the rocky area of that field, and when I’m on that rocky area I might rejoice with what I hear and what I see and what I know. And it grows up, and suddenly it withers away because I didn’t let it take root within me. Other times, I’m afraid to say the good news gets completely swallowed up by those thorns that are the concerns of this world, and instead of following the good news I allow myself to become totally distracted, and the good news disappears amongst all those weeds. However, at other times I know that I walk through the good ground, and within me—yes, even me—there is a harvest, possibly not of a hundredfold, but there is a harvest.

The same is probably true of everybody else. Each of us, at different times—maybe of the day, different times of the week, different times of the month, different times of our year or our life—look back, we find at this time, I was on the path, and the seed was trampled underfoot and the birds ate it. Now I’m afraid I was on the rocky ground; now on the thorns. But if you think about that field, that field is you now; it’s me. If you think about a real field, the path would have been very narrow. The rocks piled up at one side that the farmer put there when he hit them with his plow are a small area. The thorns might surround the edge of the field, but they don’t grow in the middle. And 99% of that ground is good, fertile, well-dug, receptive soil. So when you go through your Christian life, remember: Although there are times when you are path or rock or thorns, the majority of you is actually good, fertile ground, ready and waiting to hear the good news, act upon it, and bring forth a wonderful harvest for God.

So don’t despair. Rejoice in God. Allow yourself to find that part of you that will become ever more well-cultivated, and allow God to plant the seed there. God bless you. Pray for me. Amen.