Feeling Hopeless? God Never Gives Up on You (Priest's Powerful Take on the Parable of the Sower)

 

God Throws the Seed Everywhere

We all know the Parable of the Sower. We’ve heard it hundreds of times. It’s about God’s word and how we receive it. If we have an open heart, an open mind, an open soul, we allow God’s word and God’s graces to come into our life.

But today the focus is on the seed itself.

Think about this for a moment. What farmer would throw seeds in awful areas? What farmer would ever waste seed by throwing it into thorns, dry land, cracked land, land that can’t grow anything? No one would do that. No one except God.

God is extravagantly generous. He throws the seed everywhere.

Right now, some of you are listening with open hearts and open minds. And some of you, honestly, are somewhere else entirely. There’s no one standing at the door asking whether you’re going to pay attention today. Nobody’s going to turn you away if you won’t. The seed gets thrown anyway. God is generous. God’s word penetrates.

What Isaiah Tells Us About Rain

The first reading from the prophet Isaiah puts it beautifully. The rain and the snow come down and do not return. Rain falls on cement, on grass, on dirt, on rock. It doesn’t stop to consider what the ground thinks. It slaps the ground. It trickles. It nicks the surface. And eventually, it penetrates.

That image matters because so many of us hold back when it comes to sharing our faith. We talk ourselves out of it. “Don’t bring up religion with this person.” “Don’t even go there.” And in doing that, we deny someone the opportunity to hear a message of love.

We can’t do that. We shouldn’t do that.

Abraham Lincoln and a Drop That Changed Everything

While watching a History Channel series on Abraham Lincoln over the Fourth of July, something stood out. (I love Abraham Lincoln, I hated reading before I read about Abraham Lincoln.) Lincoln’s mother died when he was very young. He grew up in a log cabin in the wilderness of Illinois. His father would leave him for months at a time with his older sister while he went to look for work and food.

Eventually his father went away and came back with a new wife. A stepmother.

We all know the reputation stepmothers carry in stories. But this woman loved Abraham Lincoln. She encouraged him. She inspired him to get an education, to learn to read, to write. She was a drop of rain that fell into the soil of his life at exactly the right moment.

And who would have thought that was fertile ground? Who would have looked at some kid from a rough, remote corner of the country and predicted he would become President of the United States and help free millions of people from slavery?

When Jesus says that the seed falling on good soil will produce a hundredfold, this is what he means. You never know the impact you will have in someone’s life. You never know what kind of soil is hiding underneath a hard surface.

The Child Who Won’t Smile

Here’s another way to think about it. When a child is upset with their parents, they shut down. They cross their arms. They look away. And what does a parent do? They come close. They make a face. They say, “Come on, where’s that smile? Where is it?”

And little by little, the child starts to crack. Then they start laughing. It happens with teenagers too. It happens with friends. It happens with wives (though husbands might have to try a little harder).

The point is that persistence and love wear down the hard ground.

If someone wants to give you a hug, let them. If someone wants to talk to you, let them talk. If someone smiles at you, smile back. If someone wants to share something with you, let them share it. If someone keeps dropping grace into your life, don’t shut them out.

Those are the people you should never ignore. Those are the people you should open your heart, your mind, and your soul to.

Let Them In

That is what God does with us every single day. That is what the people who love us do every single day. They keep showing up. They keep throwing seed. They keep letting the rain fall.

The only question is whether we are willing to absorb it.

The parable is not just about what kind of ground we are. It’s an invitation to become the kind of ground that lets things grow. To stop deciding in advance that certain people aren’t worth the effort, or that we ourselves are too hard, too tired, or too far gone to receive something good.

The seed is already falling. Let it in.

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Upcoming Retreats

Christ Renews His Parish invites you to join them for a women’s retreat on August 22nd and 23rd, and a men’s retreat on August 29th and 30th. There is a table in the narthex with all the information. It is a two-day program, and those who have participated before consistently come back grateful for the many blessings they received. If you are interested, stop by the table and ask any questions you have.