Showing posts with label Soil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soil. Show all posts

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Being fit to take care of a garden


"Unless we know the difference between flowers and weeds, we are not fit to take care of a garden.
It is not enough to have truth planted in our minds.
We must learn and labour to keep the ground clear of thorns and briars, follies and perversities,
which have a wicked propensity to choke the word of life."

- Clyde Francis Lytle

"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:
When people hear the message about the kingdom and do not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their hearts. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to people who hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to people who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to people who hear the word and understand it. They produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Matthew 13:18-23

God, I am grateful that the sower has sown the word
and that I could receive it

let me cherish it and let the earth on which is sown be well maintained and properly edited.
Let me also bear good fruits,
that I ask You  in Jesus name, amen.
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Het verschil weten tussen bloemen en onkruid
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English: An icon depicting the Sower. In Sts. ...
English: An icon depicting the Sower. In Sts. Konstantine and Helen Orthodox Church, Cluj, Romania. Español: Ícono representando la parábola del sembrador, en la Iglesia Ortodoxa de Helen, en Cluj (Rumania) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Saturday 14 March 2009

Picking Stones

English: A Pile Of Stones These stones were re...
A Pile Of Stones These stones were removed from the field whilst preparing the soil for planting potatoes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Picking Stones

March 14, 2009

By Randy Mantik

Ah, spring. It's wonderful to see things green up. One of the things that signaled the arrival of spring for our family when I was growing up on the farm was an annual ritual we carried out in the fields before planting called 'picking stones.' Ugh! For the uninitiated, picking stones is when you go through the field and pick up and cart off all the stones that have pushed their way up through the soil during the winter.

The first few times I did it, I thought, 'One of these years, we're going to get rid of every single stone and never have to do it again.' But, alas, when spring came the next year there was a fresh crop of stones.

In Matthew 13:1-23, Jesus talks about people's hearts, comparing their receptiveness to the message of the gospel to the soil. The soil of the heart doesn't have to be hard and unworkable. It can be softened.

Jesus says the seed sometimes falls on rocky ground. The soil appears to be good, yet it¹s shallow. The seed goes in and seems to take root, but there¹s not enough depth to maintain life. The plant dies off when the sun burns hot and things get hard because there are no strong roots.

Everyone faces the 'sun of circumstances' on their lives. Sometimes the rays are feeble and hardly felt; other times you suffer from a serious sunburn. A feeble ray might be when your car is in the shop or the washer breaks. A heat wave, when your child is diagnosed with cancer or the company you work for downsized you right out of a job. You name it, life can throw it at you.

However, what determines whether we grow in the heat of our situation or simply wither away is the depth and workability of our soil. How healthy are our spiritual roots? Are we diligently picking the rocks out of our hearts' soil.

What's life's sun doing to you? As someone said, "The same sun that hardens clay softens butter." When we allow the Word to soak into the hard, rocky places of our heart, wonderful things begin to happen. There is death to self. And then there is life. Let the Holy Spirit help you pick some stones from your heart today.
‹ Randy Mantik is lead pastor at CrossPoint AG in Portage, Wis.

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