Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
This parable of Jesus is well-known to Christians, and at least it used to be familiar to the wider world as well. Usually it is given a strictly spiritual interpretation; indeed, Jesus himself appears to endorse that in his explanation. (All quotations are from the book of Mark, English Standard Version.)
The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
And yet, as I was reading this chapter the other day, it occurred to me that the parable has a much wider application, which of course doesn't surprise me, as great truths usually apply in many situations. Nor do I claim my thoughts to be original; I'm sure many others have seen the same things. But they were new to me, and I want to write them down.
How often this plays out in my life! Here's one example:
I read a new book or article, hear a lecture or the words of a friend. I might react in any of those four ways. Sometimes an idea may be too foreign, or too objectionable, or I may have strong prejudices against the writer or speaker, and I reject it immediately. For good or for ill, I give it no place in my thoughts. At other times—all too often—I respond to an idea with great enthusiasm, but do not do the work necessary to truly understand it, so when someone—especially someone I care about and/or respect—opposes it, I can't defend the idea, and soon drop it. Frequently the idea makes it through the above obstacles, and I fully intend to apply it in my life, but I get busy with everyday living ("cares of the world"), worry about the cost in money or time ("deceitfulness of riches"), or don't give it priority ("desires for other things") and nothing comes of it. Only if I make an idea my own, give it time and attention, and above all act upon it, will it actually make a difference in my life.
It's also applicable to blogging: I have thousands—tens of thousands—of ideas for blog posts. There's hardly an idea or event that comes my way that doesn't present itself as a possible subject. Li'l Writer Guy (I haven't mentioned him in a while, but he's still around) immediately starts turning it over for possibilities. But many ideas are rejected out of hand as inappropriate; others get dropped when I realize they're not as interesting as I had thought; and most of the rest get dumped into the "blog post ideas" bucket never to see the light of day again, choked out by higher priorities. Only a few of the seeds get the soil preparation and care they need to make it into print.
It's fun for me to see Bible passages in a different light. And maybe useful, too. Recently I've been trying to decipher inscriptions on gravestone photos, and have found photo-editing software to be helpful. Seeing them literally in a different light can sometimes cause what was murky to pop out with clarity.
