There it was, just ahead of me on the sidewalk: a familiar, bright
yellow dandelion, the harbinger of spring, growing out of a narrow crack
in the concrete pavement. Somehow, a lone seed from the previous year
had landed in the crack and found enough fertile soil to take root and
bloom. It brought to mind a recent sermon on the parable of the sower
and the seeds.
"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As
he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled
on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came
up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell
among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other
seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times
more than was sown." (Luke 8:5-8 NIV 2011)
For me, the most pertinent point
of the sermon was that even some of the seeds that landed on rocky
ground could eventually come into bloom. I lived for many years on skid
row as an alcoholic, and the soil of my soul had become very rocky
ground. It was hardened, poisoned, and covered by the rocks of despair
from the starkness of my daily grind for survival. I was emotionally and
spiritually dead, detached from life, from self, and, most importantly,
from God. Although many of God's servants sowed the seeds of salvation,
I was totally incapable of responding. Some people even turned away from
me in frustration, feeling that their best efforts were being wasted on
me. I felt that I had been abandoned to the dismal fate of an alcoholic
death.
I now firmly believe that it was the Spirit of almighty
God that came to me one night as I sat behind a green dumpster, drinking
a bottle of rum. I had an insight, a voice as clear as a bell, a gentle
voice from within me that said, "You were not born to live this way. You
were not meant to die this way." That luminous moment of insight was the
beginning of my journey towards Jesus, towards the light of life.
The living seed of God, sown by the servants of God years before,
began to blossom in the dry soil of my soul. The Lord Jesus gently led
me to the foot of His cross, where I eventually knelt, confessed my
sinfulness, and admitted my need of His all-saving grace. All honour and
glory be to God, for without His saving grace, I would still be counted
amongst the lost souls. I will also be eternally grateful for all of
God's people who, with patience and persistence, continued to sow the
seeds of salvation. Today, through the eternal message of the gospel, I
am able to love without fear, to embrace life with all of its vagaries,
and to live life to its fullest.
The important point is that as
Christians, we ought never to turn away from people in desperate and
disparate circumstances, no matter whether we feel that our best efforts
to sow the seeds of our Lord are landing on deaf ears. We never know
when or where those seeds will take root and flourish in even the most
broken of souls. By the great commission left by Jesus, we, His friends
and servants, are to be the sowers of the seeds, the fishers of souls.
It is to be left to God alone, through His will and by the power of the
Holy Spirit, to furnish the nourishment of His grace, so that some of
the seeds that we sow may someday thrive, even in the most rock-strewn
and desolate of human hearts.
Prayer: Dear Lord, with Your help
and grace, may we become sowers of the seeds of Your Word, and may Your
seeds return to you a hundredfold. May we always in word and deed give
witness to the redeeming love and grace of Your Son, our dear Lord
Jesus. Amen.
Ron Nichol
Vernon,
British Columbia, Canada
