Hi everyone,

I talking to a friend of mine the other day (well, actually maybe a month ago), and we got on the subject of parenting (of which I know very little, it seems). Anyway, she jokingly said that the easiest part of parenting is shaming the kids so they feel bad for their choices.

Again, she was joking, but I felt the need to say something about that anyway. I said that I try to teach my kids principles that are understandable, not just actions that are executable. That way, they behave not out of fear, but out of understanding why it’s good to be good.

We joked a bit more about how I apparently don’t understand jokes, and we kind of left it at that.

But I think I would stand for what I said, as I do believe that we are better when we come from a place of understanding than from fear. I believe that we live in community better when it is full grace than punishment. I believe that we grow and learn better when we are related to in love rather than anger.

Having the kids understand though, it a totally different ball of wax altogether.

Here are the readings for next week:
Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65:9-13
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
and a video of them being read:

Sometimes Jesus’ parables can seem so straight forward, especially when he goes and explains it for all that are listening. Other times, we look a bit deeper and see that we don’t understand at all. I would argue that this is one of those latter times.

See, we might look at this parable from this gospel reading and think, oh, we should be good soil. And then we look at Jesus’ explanation of it and think, yeah, we really need to be that good soil. And I would tend to agree, that being the good soil is probably better than not being that good soil.

The thing with that though, I wonder if the kind of soil is really the point. The soil doesn’t really choose what kind of soil it is. The seed doesn’t choose what it does when it lands on different kinds of terrain. The seed doesn’t even chose where it lands, for that matter. It seems like the main character here is the one who is haphazardly throwing that seed.

And we might even say then we should be that person, who throws the seed anywhere and everywhere. But I would think that’s God, who doesn’t choose who to love per se, but gives that love out freely to all people, regardless of how well they will accept it, nurture it, or even understand it.

So try as we might to be something we’re not, or change someone else into something they aren’t, or take away something that has been given, we will find that God continues to give, continues to lead, and continues to love regardless.

Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!