Changing The Soil

In the Parable of the Sower the different types of soil are likened unto the hearts of the men and women who receive the word of God. Elsewhere, planting seeds is compared to having and exercising faith. It may be true that the first few attempts to plant seeds of faith in the soil of our hearts do not go as well as we could have hoped. Our seeds may get snatched up by birds, or choked by thorns, or wither under the heat of the sun. But with each seed that we plant, for however long or short the seed of faith grows, it will have an impact on the soil of our hearts. The roots will begin to break down the soil, interactions between various nutrients and bacteria in both the soil and the roots will begin to change the nature and structure of the chemical composition of each other. We may start out on a journey of faith and our heart is not in it, our soil is not ready for a seed. But as time goes on and some seeds start to sprout, the soil of our heart will change. It will become easier to plant seeds of faith and those seeds will grow stronger and more vibrant and they will make even greater changes to our heart. It's ok if our hearts start out barren and lifeless, full of doubts and worldly concerns. The more often we try to plant a seed of faith, the more our hearts will begin to change. Even when the seeds of faith we plant fail and die, our efforts have not been in vain. We are simply preparing our hearts for the next seed, and the one after that. Not all of our acts of faith are going to yield immediately recognizable positive results, but no seed of faith is ever wasted.