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---
title: "The Parable of the Sower: a New Interpretation"
lesson: We can choose how we react to adversity. Adversity will ultimately make us stronger
---
<!-- TODO: image formatting and escape characters -->
Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019\
\
Yesterday, I arrived home after a visit to my daughter Mallory and her
husband Blake in Georgia. While there, we went to a park called Stone
Mountain Park. Here is a photo to give you an idea of the wonder of this
natural phenomenon.
{width="6.5in"
height="4.333333333333333in" alt=""}
It is a huge single piece of granite stone rising above the relatively
flat area surrounding Atlanta, Georgia. It looks kind of like some giant
dropped a monstrous granite Easter egg on the ground and left it there
for us tiny human ants to ponder how in the world it got there.
We rode a gondola to the top of the stone and enjoyed the amazing view
of the green forests around Atlanta.
{width="6.5in"
height="6.1506944444444445in" alt=""}
While exploring the top of the stone mountain, I discovered something
that totally amazed me. It was a tree growing out of the solid granite
rock.{width="6.1875in"
height="8.25in" alt=""}
There was not a speck of earth on the rock and yet this tree managed to
somehow grow there against all odds and logical reason. This encounter
with sheer tenacity made an impression on my mind that caused me to
ponder. I thought of the parable of the sower and how some seeds "fell
upon stony places, where they had not much earth... And when the sun was
up, they were scorched; and because they had no root they withered
away." The stony places symbolize people who don't have a depth of
conviction and when any small amount of difficulty arises, they "wither
away" and abandon their conviction.\
\
I thought of a new perspective on the stony ground metaphor that was
much more admirable than those who abandon their convictions when
opposition arises. This amazing tree could be a symbol of those who
don't whine about the impossible circumstances of their lives. They take
what they were given in this life and by sheer force of will manage to
not only survive, but even thrive. This tree did not have the choice to
simply abandon the stony place and go look for some fertile ground where
it could live a comfortable and easy life. After all, trees don't walk
and no amount of whining would change this fact. It only had the choice
to accept its circumstances and make the best of them or give up and
die. This tree was probably 30 or more years old, so it didn't merely
maintain a positive attitude for a day or two, but it consistently
persisted over many years to reach for the sky.\
\
The lesson of life that this tree represents to me is that we ultimately
control our own destiny by the choices we make. Regardless of the cards
we have been dealt, we can use them to become strong and successful or
we can use them as excuses to fail. It's all up to us and our own
exercise of our ability to choose how we will react.\
\
This life was not meant to be a place free from adversity and the more
adversity we face the stronger we may become. Another representation of
this concept is captured so well in the following poem.\
\
Good Timber\
\
by Douglas Malloch\
\
The tree that never had to fight\
For sun and sky and air and light,\
But stood out in the open plain\
And always got its share of rain,\
Never became a forest king\
But lived and died a scrubby thing.\
\
The man who never had to toil\
To gain and farm his patch of soil,\
Who never had to win his share\
Of sun and sky and light and air,\
Never became a manly man\
But lived and died as he began.\
\
Good timber does not grow with ease:\
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;\
The further sky, the greater length;\
The more the storm, the more the strength.\
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,\
In trees and men good timbers grow.\
\
Where thickest lies the forest growth,\
We find the patriarchs of both.\
And they hold counsel with the stars\
Whose broken branches show the scars\
Of many winds and much of strife.\
This is the common law of life.\
\
I suppose this story sounds more like a church sermon than a story from
my life history, but my life is still happening and I am still learning
the lessons of life, so I hope you don't mind when I share them with
you.
|
