“And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them.”
The Ground
In the parable of the sower, the seed that fell among thorns is not described as bad seed, or as having fallen on obviously bad ground. It grows, initially, alongside the thorns, both sprouting together. The choking happens gradually, not because the seed failed to take root, but because the thorns were never actually cleared before the planting happened.
Jesus later explains this specific soil as representing the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choking the word. Notice these are not dramatic, obviously destructive forces. They are ordinary, everyday concerns, the kind that seem reasonable and manageable individually, but which together slowly strangle whatever good growth was trying to happen.
This is a sober warning against assuming a fallow season, once entered honestly, automatically stays cleared. Thorns can return, quietly, through ordinary worry and ordinary distraction, unless the ground continues to be tended rather than assumed permanently broken after a single season of intentional work.
Examine today what ordinary cares or distractions might be quietly resprouting in ground you thought was already cleared. This parable does not describe a one-time breaking that lasts forever. It describes ground that requires ongoing attention, or the thorns will simply grow back.
Tend the Ground
- Name one ordinary care or distraction that has been quietly resprouting in your life.
- Address it today, specifically, rather than assuming the ground stays cleared automatically.
- Recommit today to ongoing tending, not a one-time breaking you consider finished.
Prayer
Lord, thorns have been quietly resprouting in ground I thought was cleared. Help me tend it ongoing, not assume one season of breaking was the end of it. Amen.
Carry this today
Cleared ground still needs ongoing tending, or the thorns return.