In Catholic churches this weekend, the gospel reading came from Mark 4:1-20, known as the Parable of the Sower.
The imagery is simple. A sower goes about planting his seed. Some fell on good soil, some on bad. Seeds sprang up, and some survived, others didn’t.
The parable got me thinking. What am I sowing? Am I sowing seeds of hope or fear?Mercy or anger? Love or hate? Trust or doubt?
No matter what, I can always do a better job in what I choose to sow. Sometimes, it’s difficult to realize how easy it is to think you’re sowing one thing, but in reality, something else is sprouting up.
That’s where God comes in. Approaching our lives with a prayerful and trusting spirit, we will almost always sow what the Lord had intended for us. Will some of what we sow fall on rocky ground? Yes, without a doubt. Will we see it spring up, only to see it wither and die? Probably. But that can’t keep us from continuing to sow.
As our day begins, think and pray about at least one way you can sow some seeds of hope, faith and love today. Don’t be concerned about where the seed lands, and whether it will spring up, only to wither and die, or it will spring up and produce abundant fruit.
Be a sower today, and trust in God’s providence.