7-7-20 - Of Paths and Birds

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

“Listen! A sower went out to sow," said Jesus. "And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up."

Paths can be beautiful, but they’re not places for growing, are they? We call a path full of greenery overgrown. Paths are places for journeying, arteries that carry us from one place for growing to another, if you will.

When the Good News is shared with people on the path, on the move, they may not receive it fully – it remains on the surface, easy pickings for other messages and other priorities that conflict with it.

What are the birds, do you suppose, these entities that gobble up the newly scattered seeds so they cannot take root? Distractions, competing claims, yes – and something deeper: lies the Enemy tells us to undermine our ability to trust in the goodness of God and the goodness of God in us. Those lies can take many forms, and are often disguised in Advertising. Competitiveness. 60-80 hour workweeks. Stress. Anxiety. What’s on your list?

Name some paths in your life, in between spaces.
(Work can be a field, or a path; relationships can be a field or a path…)
What are the growing places in your life that you can name and celebrate?

Do you know anyone for whom the Word of God has fallen onto the path and been picked off?
How might you help them become rooted in good soil? There’s a prayer for today…

The birds are a given. They have their place.
We just need to shoo them off when they threaten our spiritual health, or someone else’s.

Maybe being active and intentional in the Life of God is like the netting people put over their growing berries and vegetables – the sun and water get through, but the birds have to do their munching somewhere else.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Next Sunday’s readings are  here.