I was reading Matthew 13 to my daughter the other night.  After a while, a friend who was staying over sat down and joined us.  As she read, she identified a couple of verses that described the seed that fell in the rocky soil and the seed that fell among the thorns as, “Right where I have been.”  She asked a good question, “How does that change?”  I found myself answering with words I had not considered before, you know, the kind the Holy Spirit puts in your mouth.

I said something to the effect that, “a good gardener amends the soil by adding the things the seed needs to grow.” As I said that, I realized I had never considered that possibility within that verse.  I considered it a one and only chance for that particular seed, and it is, but it is not the last time seed will…