Image from "Cole's garden annual" (1903)

Good Soil

A growing body of evidence linking healthy soil, healthy humans and a healthy ecosystem can only lead to one conclusion: Dirt Matters.

“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. Still, other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." “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. Still, other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." (READ MATTHEW 13 FOR JESUS' EXPLANATION)

Known as the parable of the sower and the seed, it is also a parable about the soil. All four types of soil (compacted, rocky, thorny, and good) are essentially the same dirt in the same field, but their conditions make them respond differently to cultivation. What made one soil more responsive and the other less? All the types of soils mentioned here are actually in the same plot of ground with one major difference: Only one area was fully yielded to cultivation, to being changed and prepared for planting. That area was called good soil. We too must faithfully yield to the Holy Spirit so the seed (God's Word) can take root in us and produce a fine harvest.