Fertile Soil

So, I have been gone the last 2 weeks from church, but I think this Sunday's lesson is #11 about Matthew 13.

I think I am going to use the idea for "family discussion" in the little SS study guide but do the Parable of the sower instead of the wheat & the tares for our FHE.   The wheat & the tares seems to be more about the world, the 2nd coming, judgement, etc.  The sower seems to be more of what relates to my family right now.

The question in the study guide is why do you think the parable focuses more on the ground than the sower or the seed. As my children age and start developing their own testimonies (or not), I am fully aware that the soil really is the thing that matters the most.  A boring sacrament talk, a blow off Youth Conference, or whatever isn't nearly as important as the person's soil that is listening to these things.

When your heart is in the right place, you can still pick up nugget of wisdom or feel the prick of the spirit regardless of the quality of the speaker or the spiritualness of the activity.  Parents, teachers, etc. can dump compost into our soil, water the seeds, etc., but it is really up to agency and personal choice as to what we do with these things.

 What kind of soil are we?
Stony?  not a lot of soil to grow in.   No roots so when the sun comes out they get burned and die.  Both adults and kids are often living off someone else's testimony and not developing their own.  So, when something happens--whether to the other's strong testimony or to your relationship with that person--you lose your testimony also.

Thorny?  getting choked from the thorns.  Is that temptations and the world that they succumb to?

Good ground?  bring forth much fruit.  You can look around at families that pretty much never prepared their kid's soil (church attendance, FHE, etc.) and yet these kids grow up, go on missions, marry in the temple, etc.  Their soil was good soil even though their parents may have had stony or thorny soil.  It is what each individual person is willing to hear.  "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Did we fall by the Wayside when planted? Are we those that hear but doesn't understand?   Have we taken the time to try to understand?   Do we have any desire to understand or do we flat out just not want it?

Just like the glass half full or half empty, I think everything in life is what you are willing to see and put into it.
The same person can be snobby and friendly.   The gospel can be your wings or your shackles.
Members of the church can be your strength or your downfall.  It is YOU.  Your heart.  Your prepareness.  Your willingness to receive.