The Parable of the Soil Inspector

Hear the parable of the foolish soil inspector. Behold, a new sower went out to inspect the soil to determine where he might sow. Fresh from the thriving city of Jerusalem, and convinced that the sowing methods of times past were out of date, he delighted in the thought of improving on the sowing system and making his fortune.

Along the way he decided with the field being so far away, perhaps it would be best to sow some along the road, so as to ease and facilitate the harvest. The seed bounced on the hard, dry, compacted soil—and a flock of birds gleefully followed him to consume all that he threw, but the sower did not notice. He was too busy congratulating himself on his outside-the-box-thinking, and new method of easing the sowing burden with soil so close to home.

As he continued into the field, he noticed ground that looked so even, so uniform. If ever there were a place to sow, this was it! Quickly, he reached into his bag and sowed more seed…here the water would be evenly spread without the low spots he had seen other sowers struggle with during periods of rain. Of course, unbeknownst to the sower, this soil was uniform as it was over rock, and would quickly wash away during said rains or bake in the sun.

Further into the field he reached a place where sprouts were already coming up! Surely this was good soil, for look, things were already growing. As he sowed the seed in the place where the thorns would choke out his crop he thought of how he would spend all the silver he would make from the yield of his crop.

Now wearied from a long day of work he reached the far end of his field. Here, the ground was a rich black, and it was so soft it was difficult to walk. “This is soil that would make reaping difficult, he thought to himself.” Confused by the new color of the soil he looked closer…the ground was filled with remnants of crops past and looked as though it was burnt at one time…almost as if the previous farmer had done so intentionally. Not only that, there were bugs…some with many legs! This soil was clearly infected in some way, how could it grow a good crop? Horrified, but grateful he would not have to return to the far reaches of his field, he returned a handful of seed to his sack and began the long walk home, having missed the best soil of all.

Check out this article by Dan Shipley for where I got this idea: https://www.wordsfitlyspoken.o...