Soil and souls: Preparing to receive Christ

My husband Kerry and I enjoy harvesting our garden, but it wasn’t always so. Years ago we shared our salmon catch with friends Clyde and June Oberg of Palmer. In exchange for the salmon June brought over a box loaded with fresh garden produce. Once June brought us beautiful baby bell peppers—or so I thought, until I popped a whole one in my mouth and ran for the fire station! One spring, June brought over a big beautiful tomato plant and gave it to me. I put it in my dining room by the large window, and we enjoyed cherry tomatoes all summer.

One year we asked Clyde and June where we should put a little garden on our property. “Right in your front yard,” June said. “You’ll get sunlight the whole long day.” We didn’t want the garden in the front yard, so we put it in the back…behind the house….in the shadow…on hard-pack dirt. It barely grew.

And here begins what I have learned about the importance of soil and why Jesus Christ would teach about preparing our souls to receive Him by using the analogy of soil. In the parable of the sower, Jesus compares our souls to different types of soil in which a gardener--the Lord--plants a seed--His gospel. As in all parables, the interpretation and application to one’s life are numerous. In Matthew 13, the gardener plants his seeds in different locations. I always envision him walking along and planting a seed here or there. One seed is sewn by the wayside, one is sown in stony places, one is sewn in thorns, and one is sown in good ground. The only seed that thrived for the long-term was the seed sewn in good ground.

Our family learned the value of “good ground” in our garden a few years later when my husband tried gardening again. He chose a sunny spot of yard, and used an axe, a shovel, and a whole lot of muscle. He cleared the weeds, sawed and removed roots, and turned the soil deep with a shovel. He tilled with a super-sized rototiller. He shoveled in topsoil. He took the soil to the experimental farm and had it tested, then put in the recommended fertilizers. He added Miracle-Grow when he was ready to plant seeds. He watered often. His garden grew beautifully.

One year he cleared a new edge along the garden. Without doing anything to enhance the soil, he planted zucchini. Nothing grew. He planted radishes. Nothing grew. He pulled up the radishes and did the routine of topsoil, dig, till, and fertilize. He planted radishes again, and they were delicious.

Dallin H. Oaks of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints taught about some ways we can prepare our souls to receive Christ. “Spiritual food is necessary for spiritual survival, especially in a world that is moving away from belief in God and the absolutes of right and wrong,” he said. “In an age dominated by the Internet, which magnifies messages that menace faith, we must increase our exposure to spiritual truth in order to strengthen our faith and stay rooted in the gospel.”

Oaks continued, “Jesus explained that “the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). We have the seed of the gospel word. It is up to each of us to set the priorities and to do the things that make our soil good and our harvest plentiful. We must seek to be firmly rooted and converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ (see Colossians 2:6–7). We achieve this conversion by praying, by scripture reading, by serving, and by regularly partaking of the sacrament to always have His Spirit to be with us. We must also seek that mighty change of heart (see Alma 5:12–14) that replaces evil desires and selfish concerns with the love of God and the desire to serve Him and His children.”

Our family has learned that, in both gardening and discipleship, we receive the generous law of the harvest: We don’t actually reap what we sow. The Lord returns what we give with much greater abundance: “Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over (Luke 6:38).” We sow tiny seeds, yet we reap a bounty of colorful, delicious fruits, vegetables and grains. Plants give far beyond what we ourselves plant. And so the parallel runs in our lives: As children of our benevolent Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, we also reap exponentially more than we sow: more than our obedience, service, sacrifice, faith, or our desire for Jesus Christ’s grace. In fact, our Heavenly Father promises us His ultimate gift, the gift of eternal life (see John 3:15). God’s abundant blessings are available, just as the Lord promises, whenever our soul is ready for the Son.

Beth Wright is a mother and grandmother, a business owner, and assistant director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.