This week during my daughter's, Girl Scout meeting, she had to plant a daisy. The other girls in her troop planted their dasies at the previous meeting which Mo missed. The girls brought their daisy plants from home to share with each other how the plants were growing. The other girls' plants had begun to sprout. Looking at her plant in comparison to the other girls' Mo looked in disgust and said, "I just have dirt, nothing grew yet." She's six years old. She has planted seeds before and the logical part of her brain understands seeds need time, water, and light to grow. She knows if you plant a seed today it will not sprout today. Nevertheless, Mo’s natural tendency was not to respond with logic first, but rather emotion.
The "all I have is dirt" comment got me to thinking about my walk with God. Sometimes I feel like all I have is dirt. When I look at other people's lives around me, from the surface most of them seem to have all their ducks in a row. Faith and walk with God strong-check. Ability to quote scripture like it's written on their arms-check. Ability to pray and pray and pray without effort-check. I can't do any of those things. It's really hard for me to study God's word because I'm attention challenged which makes it difficult for me to stay focused on any one task for extended periods. Seriously, I have the attention span of a five year old. My memory sucks, so remembering specific Bible verses is near impossible for me. I think I can write, but I lack the ability to clearly articulate my thoughts orally, so praying is hard too. My false impression that I cannot do these things as well as my neighbor sometimes makes me feel like a seed in dirt that hasn't taken root yet.
While I may not be as advanced in my faith and walk in Christ as I think I should be, I know who I am and what my roots are. I’m confident that I am growing and new leaves are spouting each day. I know this because each day it becomes easier and easier for me to neglect my flesh and obey God's commands. Each day I see growth in some area of my life. I'm persuaded that I’m growing at God’s speed because I’m not the person I was a year ago. My faith is deeper. See, even if I lack the natural ability to sit in quiet devotion for an hour everyday, I know God sees my heart and desire to live in His will and follow His commands. I know that everyday, every word of God I read is cemented into my memory bank and when it’s time for me to use a certain word or principle of my faith, God will bring it to the forefront of my brain as necessary.
When Moriah said all she had was dirt, I asked her what plants need to help them grow. She said, "Water and light." Absolutely. God's word is our water. He is our light. In Luke 8:1-15, Jesus shares the parable of the sower. I encourage you to read it. In sum, the sower scattered seeds that landed in various places. Only the seed that fell on good soil resulted in a bountiful crop. In verse 15, Jesus tells us the good soil represents those with a good and noble heart who: hear the word, retain the word, and persevere.
Hear. Retain. Persevere. To hear is to listen and pay attention to. To retain is to continue to use or practice. To persevere means to persist or to continue with a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles or discouragement. Hear. Retain. Persevere. Now, I'm no expert, pastor, or teacher. But for me, these three words tell me exactly what my goals should be when I am studying God's word. My ultimate goal is a closer walk with God while I‘m here on earth until I make it to heaven. In order to maintain our walk with God, we must be rooted in His word. I believe the way we become rooted in the word of God is to actively hear, retain and persevere.
Hear. Read your Bible and other study material aloud. Reading aloud encourages better listening skills, and comprehension. When you read aloud, there’s an increased chance that you’ll actually read as opposed to just glaring or skipping over words. As you read, make an intentional effort to listen to what you read.
Retain. I think it’s common for people to think retain and memory are one in the same. They are not. Retain is a verb. Memory is a noun. After you’ve read God’s word aloud, you have to do something with it. You can file it away in your memory bank for later days, or you can begin to incorporate what you’ve learned into your everyday life. My memory sucks, remember? For me the best way to remember something is to practice it regularly or write it two or three times. If I can’t practice what I’ve learned, I tend to forget about it. I know it’s all tucked away in some deep dark cobwebbed corner of my brain, but if I don't use it, I tend to lose it. The Bible is huge. Obviously, God doesn’t expect us to remember it verbatim. But if everyday, little by little, concept by concept, command by command we purpose to apply what we’ve learned by living it, we’ll begin to grow and all those lessons become habits, second nature. So, lets put less focus on memory and more focus on retaining (practicing) the Word of God in our day to day lives.
Persevere. Perseverance is a big word I learned in 2nd or 3rd grade. Aesop’s Fables. It’s the story of the crow, the pitcher, the water, and the pebbles. That crow refused to give up, even when the task he faced seemed impossible; he was determined to have success. Little by little, pebble by pebble, eventually the crow got what he so desperately desired-the water which was once at the bottom of the pitcher. Life isn’t easy. We all experience difficulty, hurdles, pain, hurt, and disappointment. We all have our crosses to bear. But our crosses pale in comparison to the one Jesus bore for us. Even during our darkest hours, we must remember what we are here to do and where we are going when we leave this earth. We are here to bring glory to God. We are striving to keep his commands. This life is just the road we must travel in order to reach our final destination-heaven. Keep going. Remember your purpose and the ultimate goal. Remember that no matter how rocky your road gets, you gotta press through and continue on the journey with unwavering determination, knowing that with each sunrise and sunset you are one day closer to spending eternity with our Father.
I want to be that seed that fell in the good soil. I want to reap bountiful crops. How blessed are we to serve a God who gives us all the answers we need and doesn’t confuse us with riddles and tricks. Jesus took a layered concept and broke it down in three simple words so the likes of simple people like me can understand and grow bountiful crops…HEAR, RETAIN, PERSEVERE.
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