Every year, sometime during the month of March, my dirt-loving husband goes out to the garden to get the ground ready to plant his new vegetables and fruits for the year. A hobby has almost turned into a job for him as he rakes, tills, hoes and tills some more. I watch mesmerized from my window at all of his work and remember when I used to think that gardening should be easy. My idea was that you go outside, throw some seeds out and wait for them to grow. My husband laughed when I told him my simplistic style of gardening and told me that very little would grow if the soil were not prepared first. He even takes soil samples to the local garden shop where they analyze how much nitrate he needs to add to the soil every year. He is serious about his planting and growing and wants his crops to do well. Friday was a beautiful day, almost in the 70’s, so Harry was outside raking away debris from last year’s garden and getting it ready for the other labor to come. And labor it is! Once he starts the garden, he is out in it daily, usually from the time after breakfast until time to make dinner.

Applying my husband’s gardening knowledge to the Word of God, it would make sense that before we can sow the seeds of life into someone’s heart, we must first prepare the “soil” of their hearts to receive it. How do we do that? I think it starts with building a relationship with the person with whom we are sharing. We need to first show how much we care about them physically and mentally before we can show them the spiritual truth that is in God’s Word and expect them to accept these seeds from us. Seeds produce in good soil. Good soil comes from prior preparation, not from aimlessly throwing the seeds out anywhere and hope that somehow they produce something worthwhile. We need to pray before we share the gospel message and we need to labor in the field of preparing that heart to receive. Sometimes someone else has prepared the heart of the other person to listen to us, sometimes we share and think that the person was ready but they walk away from us, only to return to the gospel message later when someone else shares it again and in a new way. We may never see all of the fruits of our labor, but we are still called to prepare the soil and to spread the seeds. God brings the harvest!

May all of your seeds of the Word be sown into prepared soil and may they richly produce a harvest that God will see and lovingly reward you for your labors!