As Sowers of God’s Word, we are commanded to sow generously, no matter the condition of the soil.
I thought I was a capable gardener. For a number of years, I’d grown veggies and herbs for my family’s food and medicine. My garden produced well and brought me great joy. When we moved house, I inherited a new set of garden beds and, full of anticipation, I got to work: some of the beds I just tidied up; others I decided I would use differently. And that is where this story begins.
One practically empty garden bed was just begging me to grow sunflowers. It faced north, against the glass-panelled wall of the ‘sunroom’. I thought sunflowers would love the sunny position, look great, produce edible seeds and shade the sunroom in the peak of Summer. Just perfect! So I prepared the bed and sowed my seeds.
In a couple of weeks I had 3 baby sunflower plants popping up and I was excited. But then there were no more. So I sowed a fresh batch. And again a third batch. Still no more plants. Either 3 packets of seed had failed or there was something wrong with soil.
I was reminded of Jesus’ parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23): sowing seed on trodden soil, shallow soil, thorny soil and good soil. Lesson 1: There is nothing wrong with the seed of God’s Word, but sometimes the soil of our lives needs attention before God’s Word can take root. Lesson 2: As Sowers of God’s Word, we are commanded to sow generously, no matter the condition of the soil. And lesson 3: As disciple-makers we can pay loving attention to the obstacles in the lives of those we are discipling.
Then there was trouble with the young sunflower plants: one got knocked over and broke off and another snapped off in the wind. We were down to one. Another flashback of Matthew 13:5-6 – lesson 4: If our roots in God aren’t solid, we can’t withstand the storms of life.
Meanwhile I ran out of room for my onions, so I popped some of them in. They seemed really happy. In fact, I got the best crop I ever have from them that season! And then a ‘volunteer’ pumpkin self-seeded in my troublesome bed. And it thrived. It filled the bed to overflowing, started growing over the shrubs and even up between the window panes! And it produced 4 healthy, big pumpkins. This all reminded me of another parable Jesus told (Mark 4:26-29), where the farmer doesn’t do anything to make the seed grow. Lesson 5: Faith itself is the work of the Holy Spirit; nothing I do can make it happen – or stop it!
Eventually my lonely sunflower grew taller than me, and produced a lovely, big head of seed – more seed than I originally planted in my troublesome bed. Jesus’ parable conclusion in action: the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the Word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown (Matthew 13:23). Lesson 6: Fruitful discipleship doesn’t just add, it multiplies! Lesson 7: It only takes one new disciple-maker to multiply the kingdom.
Next year I will use this seed to sow another sunflower patch – hopefully more fruitful than my first attempt - and perhaps in another garden bed altogether!
Von Dubbeld
Oikos National Secretary
