In the book of Luke we get to hear the parable of the sower. What a great parable, well this morning it read a bit different to me. It read of great hope and the way that we see others. Not only the way that we see each other but the way or lack there of that we treat each eachother. The parables lies in Luke 8:5-8
5 "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
When I was reading this parable this morning I got a great vision or feeling in my heart. If we were to just walk innocently with our bag of seed, remember that faith the size of a mustard seed or all we need to do is plant the seed, if or since the bag has a small hole in it, we would scatter seed wherever we went.
I go this picture of a simple person all but skipping. Maybe they were skipping somewhere, but were skipping and just enjoying Life.
So the new parable is as follows: A man that loved Jesus had recently built a beautiful home that he and his wife and children adored. They shared this blessing with anyone that would listen or come over. They always spoke praises of what God has down for them in their lives, how God had provided for them to receive this home. Well, work still needed to be done and this day he decided to finish seeding the lawn, as there were some bear spots, it happens he felt and he was excited and happy to do the work. So he started out on his way to town to get the seed. Being such a beautiful day he decided to walk. Along the way he saw the man that owns the house on the very next corner. He took but a second to say good morning and God bless you to the man, who grumbled something under his breath, but the man kept going with joy in his heart. He came across a young man who was seemed to be just hanging around downtown, it turns out that this youngster was listening to his I-pod, the man greeted him with a good morning and a God bless you before he noticed what the kid was up to, it did not matter to him anyway. The boy never heard a word he the man had said to him, but the man kept walking undeterred. When the gentleman finally got to the store he greeted everyone he saw there with joy in his heart and a smile on his face. He purchased his grass seed and shared another gracious good morning with the clerk. As the man left the store he encountered a young woman who seemed a bit distraught. He took just a brief moment to say Good Morning and God Bless you, to which the young woman told him to leave her alone and continue on his way. He felt the need to tell her that God loves her and that he would pray for her. She muttered something that may have resembled a thanks, and the man continued on. What the man did not notice was that his bag had a small hole in it. Oh sure it was just a little hole in the weaving of the bag. As he passed several other people along the way, some met him with joy and some without, the bag still leaking seed, sometimes on dirt, sometimes on a sidewalk, sometimes it fell on rocks, but the man didn't even notice or concern himself with what was going on behind him. This went on until he got home. When he arrived he finally noticed the hole in the bag and that some of the seed had spilled out. He shrugged it off and went inside where he told his wife of the wonderful adventure he had just had and how beautiful it was out this morning. Never mentioning anything about the hole in the bag and the seed he had spilled out. There was no need to grumble about the lost seed, only the beauty he had just witnessed.
The point is not that we waste seed or time with people, it is that we take the time to spread seed and give some time to others. That we take the time we are given and use it wisely, not muttering and grumbling but loving and smiling. Jesus called us to love our neighbor as ourselves and not judge one another. If we can spend a little more time focusing on what God has given us and what we are to give others, instead of what is going on and how those people are receiving it, we might just change the way things look and feel around here.
If we do this thing right, we might just get out of here alive!
