Heart-gardeners

I was reading a few weeks ago the parable of the sower in the book of Mark chapter 4.

3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The explanation follows:

10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable….

13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
14 The sower soweth the word.
15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

I had thought, often, of the parable in relation to my own responsibility to hear the word and bring forth fruit; I had thought of it, at length, in regards to sharing the word with others and their responses. But now, as a mother, it hit me in a new light. Verses 18 and 19, in the ESV, read:
18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

I began thinking of a child’s soul. Of course, the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things are an expression of the sin nature, and therefore cannot be eradicated by mere laws and regulations and discipline – no matter how fine. But as they are ‘thorns’, it stands that they spring from seeds; and if there are less seeds there will be less thorns, and vice versa. I was not so much thinking of pulling the thorns from a child’s life, as of avoiding planting them.

How many times have you met a man or women who bore in their character the mark of their upbringing? “Mother always had to have the finest, and she raised us to expect the same.” “Dad always said that it’s getting ahead that matters, not other people’s feelings.” You’ve heard it, or some variation.

And so, the question that came to my mind was, “How can I keep from sowing seeds of thorns in my child’s heart?” Seeds of ‘cares of the world’, of ‘deceitfulness of riches’, but most especially the one that stood out to me, of ‘the desire for other things’.

It is said that more is caught than taught. Do I have in my own heart the ‘desire for other things’? Things that are not wrong of themselves, perhaps, but ‘other’ things, nonetheless? Things that I don’t have? So-and-so’s new dress – do I want one like it? That new kitchen gadget – is it something I am desiring? Do I buy things just because I ‘want’ them with no regard to usefulness or stewardship? Could it be that these things in my heart will make it more difficult for my children to hear the word of God? Will my actions and example sow seeds of ‘the desire for other things‘ in their own lives?

I want my life to be, instead, a model of desiring God. These thoughts have challenged me the last few weeks. It is not wrong, of course, to buy a new dress… but what is my heart teaching the little one who calls me Mother?