Dedicated to Vivien – Mathew chapter 13
A daddy-daughter date
What a joy it is when a man plans a special dinner with his
daughter, only to hear she has a little surprise up her sleeve! The suspense passes
in and out of his mind for days as he wonders what could it be? He spots the
Bible tagging along as a guest as they head to their go-to pizza joint. A grin
spreads across his face because he feels this night will be unforgettable!
This is the setting for the story of me having dinner with
Vivien and her telling me she wanted to discuss Matthew Chapter 13. This
chapter of Matthew is both inspiring and practical. I find it inspiring since
Jesus teaches on so many levels. It is also practical since the word of God can
be turned into practical advice for all who hear it. It never gets old.
Mathew 13
Matthew tells of Jesus addressing the crowd from a boat as
they stand on the shore. He speaks in a parable of the Kingdom of Heaven. He
speaks of a Sower of seeds. He elaborates that enemies may sow weeds into the field,
so the crop will fail to yield a plentiful harvest if permitted. His parables instruct
us to do the right things to grow spiritually so we may enter the Kingdom, and the
entrance comes with the cost of doing the right thing.
After Jesus mentions all the hardships, he tells of the tiny
mustard seed. This seed is so small that you cannot see it on a fingertip
without intense concentration from only feet away. Christ unveils humanity's potential
by stating the magnificence of this tiny seed that grows into a huge tree.
Practical help from the garden
It is no accident that the book Become the Boss of You
contains practical advice on leveraging the seedlings of your habits and
attitudes in your journey. This allows them to mature and unfold their human
potential.
When my darling Vivien was very young, or as I like to say,
when she was “itty-bitty,” I taught her the rudiments of gardening to teach her
the life cycle—the cycle from seed to harvest. We would gently nick each seed
and soak it in water for a day. Next, we would plant them in pods and put them
in a room with the proper temperature and lighting. We then took the strongest
sprouts to be transplanted into larger pots. Then, the strongest plants were
transplanted into the garden after the last chance of frost. She was learning
to do the right things.
I remember walking into our grow room to see Vivien digging
in the pod soil only days after we had seeded. Small hands and wrists stained with
peat and dirt, a carnage of soil strewed on the floor by her feet, and not a single
plant to be found by the young explorer. More noticeable was the look of
disappointment on the face of the inquisitive investigator. Where were these so-called
plants she was promised?
Two days is a lifetime when you're a bouncy four-year-old! Waiting
for those seeds to sprout, bloom, and fruit must have felt like watching paint
dry. Even a four-year-old knows we can pop into a store and snag food in a
snap! Yet, I feel certain that at age four, the process Vivien experienced
in growing the harvest was an amazing process for her.
I hit the jackpot having such a little gem as my student,
and it was a true honor to be her teacher on our gardening adventure. It is
fitting that to this day, I keep a picture of my itty-bitty Vivien with her
arms full of garden vegetables on the wall of the stairway to my office. That
picture is more than a child with arms full of tomatoes, basil, and peppers. The
picture proves that we performed all the necessary steps to allow God to grow
the food for our table and that she was a part of that process. The fruit is certainly.
However, to a father, a young child's smile is of equal evidence of God's
bounty. Maybe more so.
Faith in Christ’s teachings
So, it is with us spiritually. It is not by accident
that Christ used the sowing of seeds in his parables to describe the Kingdom of
Heaven. In Matthew 13, Jesus instructs us on how we might similarly mess up our
spiritual growth. If we cannot protect our heavenly thoughts and teachings from
predatory forces, they will be devoured like the seeds eaten by birds. It will
not become a plant if we do not provide the proper soil to form roots. Even after
it is a young plant, it can be choked and overcome if we do not weed our garden.
Only by doing all that is necessary can we expect to reap the harvest of 100, 60,
or 30, as told by Jesus.
In our spiritual journey, we would take a page from
Vivien's open-mindedness in her first year of gardening. If we embrace the teachings
in Matthew 13 with an open mind, Jesus’s teaching can help us avoid the world's
traps. In the words of Jesus, “He who has ears, let them hear.” Christ quotes the prophecy
of Isaiah and warns us to be childlike in our hearing of what he is teaching. We
need to listen with our hearts. We want our faith to be strong. We want it to
have good roots.
If your belief in the kingdom of heaven is not strong, it
will be hard to resist the tricks of The Evil One to tear it from your heart.
The Evil that wants to keep us from God uses all resources that it can. It will
“Fact Check” us. It will tell us that belief in God is not scientific. The list
goes on and on, and our faith will be tested. Our busy world is like the
trampling of the seed on the road. If we are not careful, our faith will be diluted.
Therefore, we must keep our faith strong. It must have strong roots.
One of the tricks or hacks we use in the book Become the Boss
of You to cement anything we are working on is gratitude. By celebrating
our seedlings of success, we can nurture them and help them grow. I cannot
think of anything more important than being grateful for Jesus's teachings or
the faith we have already nurtured. Christ is our teacher. He is the Sower of
the seed. The seeds are his teachings, which are the immutable laws of God or
nature. The more grateful we can become when we find inspiration from one of
Christ’s teachings, the stronger we will grow the roots. The more we celebrate
our faith in his word, the more chance our faith will be there when we need it
most.
Jesus also warns us of this. He tells us that not all who
hear his word profit equally. He explains to his followers that they know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but most do not. Jesus reminds
his disciples that there is a law of diminishing returns. “Whoever has, to him, more shall
be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what
he has shall be taken away from him.” This is why Jesus taught using parables.
It is also the reason to be childlike and open-minded to understand his
teachings.
The more we know and embrace Christ’s word, the easier greater
truths can be revealed. The more we understand and nurture our present faith,
the easier it is to develop it further. Christ's teachings in Mathew 13 help us
find the bountiful harvest worth the toil in life. When nurtured properly, they
become the mustard seed that becomes the tree. Through childlike faith and open-mindedness to
his teachings, man's potential and our connection to God are unleashed and can
grow fast.
I can’t help but smile at Vivien’s eagerness to chat about
the master's teachings. It was a front-row seat I had as I watched her nurture
her spiritual wisdom! It's one thing to do right when it’s a walk in the
park, but facing the world's challenges is a different ballgame! Her inner work
is the path to gear up for smooth sailing and stormy seas. With each step,
she's growing her faith and learning to make the right choices. When the going
gets tough, when fear comes knocking at her door, she can tap into the courage
she has cultivated through her inner work and lean on her faith. Faith in the
word of Christ.
Even more than a four-year-old child smiling with her
harvest in arms is the faith in the bounty of the seeds of our Lord’s word. I
love you, Vivien.
Peace, Joe Pikul
Instagram
at jpikuliam1
Comments
Post a Comment