Article September 26, 2016 ISSUE

Preparing the soil, planting the seed

Scott Thompson

A single apple seed that finds its way to fertile soil will in time spring up into a tree with many dozens of apples, all containing multiple seeds. Any one apple holds within itself a potential orchard. And yet without fertile soil, water, and sunshine, the vast potential is not even partially realized. Similarly, every seed of truth or spiritual insight offers the potential for spiritual growth and healing, but we need to consider the soil—the state of consciousness—that may receive or reject the seed of truth.

In the first of Christ Jesus’ parables recorded in the book of Matthew, the Master describes a sower casting seeds that fall onto four kinds of ground: 1) the wayside ground, where the seeds get eaten up by birds; 2) stony soil, where stones prevent the plants’ roots from reaching deep, and the poorly rooted plants wither in the sunlight; 3) ground with thorns, where the plants spring up but are choked by surrounding thorns that grow up around them; and 4) fertile soil, where the plants spring up abundantly (see Matthew 13:3–9).

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Satisfied with ever-present good