In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus talks about a sower who went out sowing seeds, and some fell by the wayside, and some fell among stony ground, and some fell among thorns, and some fell on good ground. The thing that all of these have in common is they all fell. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. It is a fact of life that we will fall again and again. Although we cannot always stop ourselves from falling, we can nevertheless choose where we land. When we fall, we can fall by the wayside. We can decide that we are irredeemable sinners, that the Lord is a harsh and unforgiving master who demands too much of us, that nothing we do matters, so the devil himself may as well just swoop down like a bird and snatch us and carry us off. We can fall among stony ground and criticize and tear down all of our efforts to repent and improve our lives, so that we never give ourselves a chance to put down roots because we are always too hard on ourselves. We can fall among thorns and allow the thoughts and opinions of all of those crowding around us to completely rob us of any sense of agency or originality, until we are just as choked and stunted and jaded as they are. Or we can sin and fall on good ground. We can recognize that the Lord has prepared a place for us to land when we fall that will encourage us to see the best in ourselves and in others, to keep striving for growth and to bring forth fruits despite our falls and our failures. The good ground is full of those who have fallen down and now are trying to make bring about something wonderful from their fall. In our homes, our neighborhoods, our churches, we can support each other as fellow fallers that are trying to still bring forth fruits. We do not need to make anyone feel that their opportunity to grow and change and flourish has been snatched away, or faces impenetrable obstacles, or is in danger of being mocked and scorned by those who are too jealous and spiteful to bring forth fruit of their own. I hope when we fall, we choose to fall on good ground, so that we can from our fall into the good ground bring forth fruits of repentance.
