Scrolling through my Saturday morning Facebook feed, an illustrated post by Laura Kelly Fanucci at Mothering Spirit appeared with this verse.  I read it and scrolled on.  Moments later I felt a pull to go back and read it again.  The seed is the word of GOD.

…and again.  The seed is the WORD of God.

…and again.  The seed IS the word of God.

…and again.  The SEED is the word of God.

I’ve known the parable of the seed and the soil since I was a little child but I did not recall this verse in particular.  Since I was on my computer and didn’t want to move from my cozy spot snuggled up with my tea and snoozing dog to get my Bible, I googled the verse. Up came verse 11 along with verses 12-15.

¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.¹⁴ The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.¹⁵ But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.  Luke 5:11-15 NIV

This is the meaning of the parable:  The seed is the word of God.

I don’t ever recall the opening verse.  I’ve always just heard the center part – about how the environment where the seed falls affects its ability to grow, but this context sentence is so important.  How had I missed it?

To be honest, I always thought the seed was faith “in general”, receiving the love of God into our hearts. However, verse 11 is telling me without doubt, and with the clarity of a trumpet call, what I am supposed to learn from this Biblical story.

This clearly says the seed IS the word!

How have I never known this?  If I’m truly honest it is because I don’t really read the Bible, not regularly, and not with intention.  I know the stories I learned as a child.  I take screen shots of verses I like that other’s post, I hear the readings on Sunday morning but I don’t dig in, meditate on, and ponder the Word of God.  And here, this morning is God telling me, in no uncertain terms, it is no longer enough for me to stand on the sidelines, walking on the edge of my path of faith.  When I stay on the sidelines, the seed is falling into my life, giving me some joy in that moment, but because I am on the sidelines, it does not take root and is easily swept away by the devil into the dust.  The little verses that I post on my refrigerator, while nice, are fragile and often unseen in the rush of the day.  The pretty pictures that the Bible Doodlers post in my Facebook feed brighten the moment but evaporate into the noise of the day.

This morning the other analogies in the parable of the hardened rock and the choking thorns make sense but do not resonate with me, not in the way the image of walking on the sidelines does.  I’ve been walking on the sidelines of my faith yet I’m surrounded by people who are centered on the path, wrapping their daily life in the seed of the Word.  It is time I join them.

In truth, my drinking is one of the things that has keep me on the sidelines.  I see now that the Devil has giggled with glee each time I picked up a numbing bottle at the grocery store or poured myself glass after glass of glistening poison at home.  My nightly wine, while intended to relax me, in reality depressed me.  While intended to quiet my mind so I could sleep, in reality disrupted my sleep and left me restless lying awake in the middle of the night alone with the thoughts I was trying to escape.  And while I never considered starting my day with a drink, most mornings I began my day shrouded in a fog of blurry eyes and a pounding head.

The Devil had me right where he wanted me, on the sidelines.  I had faith, but I was living under the illusion that it was enough.  The seeds that God had been trying to plant in recent years kept getting brushed aside.

No more.

This morning I am 6 days and 9 hours alcohol free!  This morning, instead beginning my day wrapped in an alcohol haze, I am clear headed.  I know, with the certainty of my faith, that God placed that very verse in my feed this morning for me, and others to see.  I know without doubt that he’s sprinkled many verses, seeds of his Word, at my feet in the months and years past.  Some have resonated in the moment, but then I’ve allowed them to be swept away.

No more.

If you would like to read more of Laura’s writing go to – http://www.motheringspirit.com