Importance of Good Soil

*a repost... But  as I read through the lives of Susanna Wesley and her son John Wesley... this concept and the verses that it reminds me of have been in my mind! *

First let me say that I know very little about gardening..... I am a "put in the ground and see what happens" kind-of girl:) So here is my "experiment" with my cucumber plants...

Planted in Sand Soil                                            Planted in Good Soil









Both sets of cucumbers came from the same batch and looked the same when I planted them. I took the advice of others to plant my cucumbers against a fence so they would grow up it, but I neglected to even think that the soil would cause the plants "not" to grow.

Anyway, a neighbor in the agriculture business said that the reason the cucumbers grew differently was probably the soil. The garden where I have been planting vegetable had good dark, wormy soil but against the fence where the cucumber had the place to climb had really sandy, light soil.....

look how little they were;)

Lately, I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about how parents can and do raise children to have a godly character. I desire nothing more than for my children to desire God and have a character that glorifies Him. But HOW is it done?

From my cucumbers I got a awesome visual of how important providing good "soil" for our children is. So was is this "soil"? Christ teaches in Mark 4 that it's the Word. And it seems me the best way for out kids to KNOW the Word is through our strong, loving relationship with them. It's teaching it to them, but it's also how we live it out to  them in play, structured times and times of correction. It's why we need to invest time in them!

A couple of resources for me have been other moms. One of these is a blogger and I've just really appreciated some of her insights into raised sweet, godly children. Here is a link to her insights on developing character: Leading Little Hearts Home. Another has been a book I picked up at our local library called "The Joyful Homeschooler", I've enjoyed the book although I know I differ from the author on a lot of matters (so I'm not sure if I recommend it). Another one is Parent's Guide to Spiritual Growth of Children by Focus on the Family and Grace Based Parenting. But the OTHER obvious resource is reading the Bible with them!

ha aha haaa... quickly back to the cucumbers... after a while I decided to "rescue" them and plant them in my little side vegetable garden. They won't have the fence to climb and by the end of the growing season they're might not be a lot of room for them to stretch out..... but at least they will have the good soil:) And isn't it kind of true about our kids..... we don't feel like we can always give them the best toys, or books, or dance lessons or whatever material things you feel like you've neglected to give to your kids. When in reality they need the soil..... and that takes US teaching it and living it out for them!!

And the parable of the sower from Mark 4: 3 -8 definitely comes to mind!

 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.

As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”