Yesterday I compared the Parable of the Sower with Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life. As I was doing this, I realized that the Parable of the Sower is also a perfect illustration of the degrees or kingdoms of Glory as outlined in the Plan of Salvation. Each type of soil represents one of the degrees of Glory. The wayside is where the seeds could not take root at all. These are those who deny the Holy Ghost and will not allow the word of God or a testimony of Jesus Christ to take root in their hearts at all. This represents those who do not qualify for any kingdom of Glory but must instead dwell in outer darkness. The seeds that fell among rocky soil could get no root. People who are like the rocky soil at first receive the word of God with gladness, but they are not willing to keep on nurturing it when times get tough. The very top layer of soil is mostly made up of dead and decomposing plant matter. The rocky soil is like the telestial kingdom because those who inherit the telestial kingdom are all surface level. They are those that love and make lies, which are no better than the truth at taking root but have the advantage of being easy to abandon in favor of any new lie that comes along. Those who abide by a telestial law do not develop the depth of character to consider the future beyond their immediate pleasure or pain, and so their glory is that of the stars - small and distant and remote and neither in their control nor under their responsibility. Jesus Christ says that those who are like the thorny soil allow the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches to choke the word. This certainly sounds like those who are destined to inherit the Terrestrial kingdom, who are honorable men and women of the earth who were blinded by the craftiness of men. And that leaves the good soil to be like the Celestial Kingdom. And just like there are three degrees of Glory in the Celestial Kingdom, there are three degrees of good soil - some bring forth thirty fold, some sixty fold, and some an hundredfold. I know that whatever kind of soil are hearts may be like right now, we all still have time to make improvements. If we are like the hard packed soil of the wayside and have never let the grace of God in, then maybe we can carve out a tiny crack in the surface so that maybe one seed can get in. If we have stones in our heart - trauma, grief, doubts, illnesses, addictions, strained relationships, legitimate grievances - we can pray for the Lord's help in removing them so that we can make room for the word of God. If we have thorns - movies, video games, social media, the acceptance or approval of others, a career, hobbies - we can pray for the Lord's help in uprooting some of these - just one or two at a time, as slowly as we need to go - so that we can let our testimony grow and flourish and bear fruit and as our prophet has said, so that we can think Celestial and have good soil that brings forth a hundredfold in the Highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom.
