If you live in the southern states, you know that beauty parlors were made for talking, the tea is always sweet, and summer is for gardening. It’s the way things are!
A few years ago, my husband and I began exploring the wonders of gardening. Just last week, we planted our 2025 veggies in the ground. One year, we had tons of tomatoes and cucumbers. I spent hours upon hours in my kitchen canning these mouth-watering veggies. But last year, our little raised garden beds didn’t produce anything due to abundant rain and scorching heat.
As I write today, I wonder … Will we have an abundance? Will we have just enough? Or will I be buying store-bought veggies for the rest of the season?
The truth is, only time will tell.
There are a lot of factors that will come into play. Some of which I cannot control. I won’t be able to command the rain to stop if we get too much or the sun’s rays to rise and fall depending on what my plants need at each moment.
I can only plant the seed and carefully tend to its needs. A few of the things I can (and will) do include:
- Water as needed with the help of my water hose.
- Add nutrients to the soil to help keep the plants healthy and nourished according to their needs.
- Use natural (or store-bought) remedies to keep the bugs away.
But truly, it is up to that little seed to accept what it has been given, grow strong, produce fruit, or wither away.
I’m learning that our relationships – both spiritually and relationally – are a lot like those seedlings.
In Mark 4, Jesus uses the story of seeds to teach us about sharing the gospel.
In this passage, Jesus uses the analogy of a gardener planting seeds for the season. In verses 4-8 Jesus explains,
“While he was planting, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where there wasn’t much dirt. That seed grew very fast, because the ground was not deep. But when the sun rose, the plants dried up because they did not have deep roots. Some other seed fell among thorny weeds, which grew and choked the good plants. So those plants did not produce a crop. Some other seed fell on good ground and began to grow. It got taller and produced a crop. Some plants made thirty times more, some made sixty times more, and some made a hundred times more.”
The seeds produced fruit based on where they landed.
The ones that fell in the shallow dirt never took up root.
Those that fell in the weeds were choked out.
But the seeds that landed among the good dirt produced beautiful crops.
Jesus continued His teaching with disciples to explain that this story was a picture of those who hear the gospel and show what they choose to do with that teaching 14-20 say,
"The farmer is like a person who plants God’s message in people. Sometimes the teaching falls on the road. This is like the people who hear the teaching of God, but Satan quickly comes and takes away the teaching that was planted in them. Others are like the seed planted on rocky ground. They hear the teaching and quickly accept it with joy. But since they don’t allow the teaching to go deep into their lives, they keep it only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they quickly give up. Others are like the seed planted among the thorny weeds. They hear the teaching, but the worries of this life, the temptation of wealth, and many other evil desires keep the teaching from growing and producing fruit in their lives. Others are like the seed planted in the good ground. They hear the teaching and accept it. Then they grow and produce fruit—sometimes thirty times more, sometimes sixty times more, and sometimes a hundred times more.”
I hope that we are producing good fruit in our spiritual walks with the Lord!
However, after reading this passage, I think we could also apply the same story of these seedlings to the company we choose to keep.
Some individuals find their way into our lives and are very similar to these seeds. Some of these relationships may seem like they will last forever and produce a lifelong friendship of love and care. Yet, when life hits hard, the shallowness of the relationship is revealed, and that person chooses to walk away. Secondly, some friends who come into our lives who we love dearly, but due to their poor choices, we may have to lovingly address their actions and lose that closeness because of an unrepentant attitude or decision.
Finally, there are also those friends and loved ones we have been given in life, just like those seeds that fell in the good ground. They continue to grow and strengthen with God’s love as their guide, weathering life’s storms alongside us. These relationships will forever withstand the tests of time because their roots are deep in the truth of the Word.
Before that relationship can grow, that seed of friendship must be rooted and cultivated in good, godly soil.
A friend loves at all times,
And a brother is born for adversity (Proverbs 17:17).
