third seed

The parable of the sower and the seeds is one of those stories I learned in Sunday School. It's been part of my faith understanding for decades, and yet, as an adult, I find it bothers me. Specifically, I'm haunted by the third seed. 

The first and second seeds don't really seem to apply to me. Unlike the seed on the path that was eaten by birds, or the seed on rocky soil that had shallow roots and so burned up, my faith has endured for many, many years.

It would be easy, then, to assume my faith journey is represented by the fourth seed, that which took root, flourished, and produced an abundant harvest.  But sometimes I'm not so sure. I'm haunted by the words in Matthew 13:22, which reads, "The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful."

You see, there are plenty of worries in my life, and if it looks like I'm about to run out I've proven adept at coming up with more. And sometimes I'm as eager as anyone else to look for hope in money.

So what if the third seed is my seed? What if the reason I don't see more fruit is because the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth have choked the word in my life?

If that's true, then it seems that those are weeds that can be pulled. I don't have to worry about things; God is enough for anything I face. I don't have to be deceived by the lure of being wealthy; I wouldn't rate anything I own even in the top ten on the list of things I cherish.

I guess in the end this verse isn't so much frightening as it is challenging, because problem and answer are both right there. As an easy first step, I can stop watering and fertilizing my weeds; maybe some will die of neglect, especially if I transfer that nurturing to the seeds of faith. But more than that, I can actively start weeding any time I like.

Maybe that's one way that faith becomes active, when I actively work to root out the things that make it unfruitful.