The Sower

The Bishop's sermon at Annual Conference this past June was centered around the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9).  There were many "ah ha" moments for me in the sermon, and when I returned home, I wrote this poem -- my image of the sower.  Remember as you read this, that the sower is God, and that we are called to act in God's image.

The sower,

hands callused from work,
ageless in appearance,
reached into the bag of seed
with determination.

His hands had large palms
and long, artistic fingers.
He filled them with seed.
He lifted his hand,
heedless of the seed that spilled between his fingers,
that slid out of his palm,
that piled on the ground at his feet.

The sower slung seed across the ground.
With prodigal abandon.
With radical generosity.
His eyes were not on the dirt at his feet,
but instead were focused on some distant future.
It was as if he could see the plants that would spring forth
From the seed scattered.

He sowed the seed on dry ground.
Fertile ground.
Rocky ground.
Land choked with weeds and thistle.
He sowed recklessly.

He kept reaching into the bag at his side
Filling his hands with seed,
Unworried that his supply would dwindle,
for, indeed, it did not.
Seed was not scarce;
It was abundant.

A child walked along side the sower,
trying to learn how to follow in his footsteps
but perplexed by his actions.
"You are doing it wrong!
You must choose the ground wisely,
not wasting seed.
If I plant as you plant,
most of the seed
will not grow.
Surely you do not want me to do this?"

The sower answered,
"To be a sower,
all you must do is sow.
I do not hold you accountable for how much seed you plant,
only for the seeds you do not plant.
I do not expect you to make the seed grow,
only to plant it.
I will not judge your failures,
for if you sow, you have not failed."

"Hold out your hands," the sower told the child.
Seed poured forth from the hands of the sower
into the cupped hands of the child.
Overflowing.
Piling up at their feet.
The two looked at each other and grinned.
The child gathered his courage,
turned,
and tossed seed into the air.
As they watched it cascade to the ground,
they both laughed with the joy of it.