The Woman At The Well

JESUS SPOKE TO THEM IN PAABLES, SAYING; “A SOWER WENT OUT TO SOW.”  (Matt13:3)

 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.  It sprung up at once because the soil was not deep and when the sun rose it was scorched, and withered for lack of roots.  Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it .

In the last article, one could justify to ourselves, the  strong and powerful were not us  Now there is no hiding; this is us.; it Is us who hide the truth from ourselves; us, who have made our hearts hard and stubborn, closing ourselves from God's loving words. We have made our conscience, our minds, our wills closed by our habits of indifference, blind prejudice, our lives dominated by ambition, pride and self-centeredness. Yes, we say we love Him, but our love is lukewarm, reserved- we keep part of ourselves back from His love.  There seems to be a constant battle between what we truly desire and what we actually do.  In this parable of the sower and the seed, we are led to the conclusion that the path, the ground, the soil we walk daily, must be tilled and we are the plough horse or oxen who determine how deep we will go.

Christ says, "Open wide your mouth and I will fill it', and fill it He will with His word, His bread, Himself.  He is doing the giving and we are the receivers.  Love and commitment He gives us; what do we give back?  We know we must respond, but we are weak, afraid what this must involve.

The beginning to know self- to desire to commit to Someone, something greater than ourselves is the beginning of maturity.  Self-identity is a risk one must determine for himself.  And God gives us the freedom to do that. He puts everything in place, but the choice is ours- to give back toHim that love which He has given completely to us.

Some say, so show me a plan, a plan I can follow.  Teach me to pray.

Each one is unique, distinct; "To anyone who has more,more will be given.".  Man has a mind, one must have an intellectual faith.  Man knows he should pray, but he can allow too many other things to enter his mind and he becomes too busy to pray.

Paul urges us to pray unceasingly; like breathing without interruption, not with our mind, but with all our thoughts centered on God; not a self-centered monologue but a God-centered dialogue.  We keep nothing from Him as Jesus kept nothing from His Father.  Psalm 37 rings true- trusting God with your dreams, securing all He  provides;  the promise of refuge in times of trouble. He has told us the more we unite ourselves to Him, the closer we will become like Him.

Yes, it is a constant challenge, a constant act of trust.  When man sows seed, he knows not to look for quick results.  Nature does not work that way.  It takes a long time before the seed germinates in man, yet he plants and hopes. Storms may slow down growth, yet Christ has given us sunlight to achieve growth and fruit. A rainbow is His sign of promise.

O Wisdom of God to you we pray:
Give us light to see the path we should choose, have true discernment.
Let us sow justice in the fields of our work.
Help us to live the wisdom of the cross.
Rain gently on the hard ground around our hearts.
Forgive us when we make light of our own sins.

Water the work of our hands with gentleness and love.
Remake our hearts to conform with the image of Christ.