An Overflow of Obstacles?

Have you faced any obstacles in the past few days? Perhaps something of the fluffy and white variety that fell in great amounts over the weekend? I just turned fifty but when it comes to the prediction of a snow storm I wait with anticipation the arrival and accumulation of lots of white stuff as if I were ten years old again! This past weekend I was not disappointed. What a wonderful snow we had!

Of course that depends on your perspective and situation. Snow can be fun if you can get around and go where you want to go. On the other hand, snow can be an obstacle if it prevents you from getting where you need to be. (Unless you are school age and rejoicing that school is cancelled!)

Obstacles. We face them all the time. Some of them like the snow are easy to see. If you can see an obstacle and identify what it is then you have a much greater chance to deal with it and remove it. What do you do with an obstacle that you can't see? What about an obstacle that you don't even know is there? How do you deal with an obstacle like that?

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus tells this parable.

"Listen {to this!} Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some {seed} fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other {seed} fell on the rocky {ground} where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other {seed} fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other {seeds} fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Mark 4:3-9 NAU)

What are the obstacles to production in this parable? Birds snatching away seed before it can be planted. Rocky soil that prevents deep root production. Scorching sun that withers young plants. Thorns and weeds that choke plants out. All of these were obstacles to production, yet none of them would have been obvious when the seed was sown!

You see, we do things different today when we plant. We plow and prepare the soil to receive the seed before it is sown. In Jesus day the sower would scatter the seed over the field first and then plow or rake it in. Birds could show up after sowing and before plowing. Rocks could be just below the surface and leave very little soil for root production after the seed is planted leaving it vulnerable to the scorching sun. The seeds of weeds and thorns could be in the soil along with the seeds of plants to grow along with them and choke them out.

All of these obstacles are present yet the sower cannot see them. And yet he sows. Why? "Other {seeds} fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." The sower sows because there is production and increase despite the obstacles. If the sower were focused on the obstacles there might never be a harvest!

As we seek to Overflow with God's love for others are we focused on the obstacles or on the sowing? Are we worried about the potential loss or abundant increase? Are we dependant upon ourselves or upon God?
"Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness." (2 Cor. 9:10 NAU)

Sowing expectantly!
Larry