“For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;” (D&C 4:4). All of us want to be called to work in the field that is white already to harvest. But what if the field is not ready yet? The Savior gave the parable of the Sower and described four kinds of soil or conditions that the seeds that were sown encountered - the wayside, hard-packed earth that the sprouting roots of the seeds could not penetrate before being devoured by birds or trodden underfoot; stony ground where the plants likewise could not grow sufficiently deep roots before the heat of the sun scorched them; thorny ground, where thorns and thistles sprang up to steal the water and nutrients and light that the plants needed, leaving them choked and stunted and unfruitful; and good soil, in which the plants were able to bring forth thirty, sixty or even one hundred fold. If we are like the seeds that the Sower has scattered among His fields, then of course we want to fall in that good soil so that we can be fruitful and productive. But what if we don’t land in the good soil? If we find ourselves on the wayside, if we find ourselves in a no-win scenario where we’re trying to do our best but we’re blindfolded with both hands tied behind our back and a crowd of demons screaming that we will not succeed, and despite all of this, if we try anyway to be a good seed and try to grow even in an extremely hostile environment and our seed gets snatched up before it has had a chance to bear fruit or even to throw out roots, then have we failed? No! If we fall among stony ground, and we are sending roots out in every direction, and every time we try to dig a little deeper we meet with an immovable barrier, but we keep trying and even still eventually we get burnt out, then have we failed? No! If we land among thorns and we start every day with the best of inventions and every day we are beset by crisis after crisis, choking and suffocating and blocking out the light, and all of our best laid plans go awry, then have we failed? No! We did not land in the field that is white already to harvest. We did not land among the good soil where we can go full steam ahead with nothing blocking our efforts and multiply and increase our talents a hundredfold and see obvious, immediate changes in our lives and the world around us. But even if we fell by the wayside or among stones or thorns, it does not mean that our efforts have been wasted. We have been readying the field. It may take a hundred or a thousand or a million seeds falling by the wayside before the fledgling roots have had a chance to break up enough of the soil for the next seeds to lay down roots that go a little bit deeper. But every failed plant breaks down and fertilizes and softens the soil for the next one. It may take generations of seeds to burrow into the stones and wrap their roots around them, but once they have finally succeeded, they will not be blown over when the winds come, because they will have attached themselves to a firm foundation. Most plants will be choked and wither by the thorns, but it only takes that one plant that manages to survive the competition from the thorns to grow stronger and tougher and more full of life than any seed that fell among good soil, and when that day comes, it will bring forth a thousandfold instead of a hundredfold. The Lord knows exactly where He has placed each of us in every moment of our lives. He does not expect a thirtyfold yield from a seed that fell by the wayside, but He will honor that seed that tried to grow anyway, even if it seems to all of the other plants that it didn’t do much of anything. There could be no field that is white already to harvest if there weren’t countless and unthanked seeds that turned a desert into a garden by choosing to try and grow no matter their circumstances. I know that wherever we are, we can help to ready the field, and none of our righteous efforts will be wasted.
