Optimist’s Roundtable

By Martha Sykes

Jesus told a lot of parables to the disciples and in the gospel of Mark, He tells the parable of the Sower!! It can actually be described as the parable of the four soils. It refers to how our hearts determine how we respond to God’s word.

The first soil He talks about is the hardened soil that becomes a solid place where birds can eat from. There is nothing worse than a hardened heart where nothing will grow. Satan loves a hardened heart because if we hear the word and do nothing with it, we don’t grow.

The stony, shallow soil is next. This means that if we hear God’s word, it doesn’t take root so we also can’t grow in our faith. The rocky soul people are quitters. They come to a bump in the road or a rock on the path, they give up!

Then comes the thorns!! This can be some rich soul that has other things that have taken root and can choke out the good stuff. These can be the people who hear the word, but sometimes the cares of world or the desires for other things get in the way.

Lastly, there is the good soil, where the word of God falls upon soil that is rich and hearty to grow and produce more good plants. This is the soil that yields a crop and increases over time, so as our hearts hear God’s word, it plants a seed and it grows through our faith as we continue to feed our minds and hearts with the stories of Jesus.

Just like a gardener, who cares for his garden, we have to cultivate our hearts and desire to learn more about God, and we will be surprised at how blessed and content we can become to want to hear more about Jesus. We can’t let the craziness in our world choke out the goodness of God!!