The Path: Changing Your Soil Part 1

My Mother’s Gardening

In my early teens, my mom developed an interest in nutrition. She also became an organic gardener. Organic gardeners don’t use pesticides or harsh chemical fertilizers. Instead, they use natural alternatives. Now the soil around our house was almost 100% yellow clay. Clay is dense and clumps together, with few air pockets. Seeds and plants have trouble establishing roots.. This soil also provides very poor drainage. Because clay soil absorbs water and retains it, the soil stays wet longer. Healthy plants may experience root rot, especially in the winter. Finally, clay is miserable stuff to chop through. Believe me, I know.

Well, one day, Mom decided to change her garden’s soil type.

Now, she could have rented a backhoe,. Scraped off the first six inches of clay, then brought in a truckload of potting soil. It would have been much faster. She would have transformed her garden plots in a few days.

But I’m not sure you could have rented these machines in the 1970s. Plus, our family couldn’t afford it.. Also, in my mother’s inexperienced hands, the backhoe might have damaged our house. My Dad would have been displeased.

So instead, my mom did something simpler.

She stopped using the kitchen garbage disposal.

For the next few decades, banana skins, coffee grounds, orange peels, apple cores, and crushed eggshells went into an empty coffee can by the sink. Each day my mother spaded this organic material into her garden. It soon attracted earthworms.. In a few years, she’d successfully transformed her hard clay soil into dark earth, rich with nutrients.

Spiritual Soil Types

I always call Jesus” parable of the sower, the story of the four soil types. It’s found in Matthew 13:1-23.

In the parable of the Sower, Jesus talks about four types of soil. The seed is the gospel. The soil represents different conditions of the human heart.

Can the type of spiritual soil in our hearts be changed?

Yes.

Here’s my story.

Seeds on the Path 

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

(Matthew 13:18-19 NIV)

• This person remains an unbeliever.
• The seed of the gospel scattered on top never germinates.
•  Soon the devil plucks it away.

This was my first soil type. Why? Because as a young teenager, I became a proud atheist. So the gospel seeds planted by friends in high school bounced off. My heart was the hard-packed path of Jesus’ parable.

Yet, when I started my 2nd year of college, I wasn’t an atheist anymore. Instead, I’d become a Christian.

What made the difference? Only one thing.

Prayer.

A few believers In college started strongly praying for my salvation. That’s a prayer, the Holy Spirit delights to answer.

My Spiritual Point

Can the spiritual soil of our hearts be changed? Yes, and I’m living proof. 

Never stop praying for unsaved loved ones. Because we can scatter the gospel seed, but only the Holy Spirit can prepare the soil of an unbeliever’s heart to receive His truth.

Next week, I’ll share about the seed which falls into rocky soil.

I downloaded these images from Pixabay.com.

Resources:

Enjoy this short video, “How Do I Improve Heavy Clay Soil in the Garden?”