The Seeds We Sow

I went to a community group where we read the Parable of the Sower and the Seed (Matthew 13:1-23).

"On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

I struggled with this scripture. I think because, although, it mostly describes the results of the seeds and the ground it lands on, I had to put myself in the sower's position. My mom used to say two phrases repeatedly throughout her life, "You can't go so far that your tail won't catch up to ya" and "You reap what you sow." She was totally right about the first phrase. That tail has a way of whipping a sting on you once it does catch up and it does...it always does. Ouch! I always had a hard time understanding and taking responsibility for the latter phrase. "You reap what you sow." My conservative views have me believe that everyone is responsible for themselves and "I am not my brother's keeper" so to say. Well, I think that's true to an extent but how I treat someone is what I sow. If I'm critical all the time about someone then what I've planted is a seed that blossoms insecurity, apathy, and mistrust. If I am always yelling at my kids I've planted a seed that makes little flowers yell back. No one buys those at the floral shop. It is so much harder though to get the good seeds I plant to grow it seems. Kindness, love, acceptance, while these seeds are appreciated it is more difficult to see their growth especially when these seeds don't take root, fall by the wayside, and are devoured by wickedness because these seeds aren't understood. Sometimes we plant good and bad seeds and we just don't know exactly what we are going to reap. If we are lucky the good seeds will take root and flourish. Not all good seeds flourish and that's what I struggle with. I struggle with the exhaustion of taking the effort to plant good seeds and not seeing the crop I expected. I remember riding in a tractor with my grandpa on his land. That man worked really hard on that soil and taking care of those cattle. There was no doubt that he gave 100% to his crops etc. Even though he painstakingly did all that was right, in the end when it came time to harvest or take the cows for slaughter there was no guarantee that he was going to be paid fairly for his labor. Mother nature worked against him yet he would still plow and plow. Calves died sometimes and cows weren't always prize-winning material. Yet, he'd go on and loved his work. It's as if he knew that was part of the job. You win some...you lose some...no matter how hard you work to win. So, "You reap what you sow." Well, not always I don't think but it's always better to plant the good seeds just in case. Maybe that's what Mom meant.