I cried out. I received salvation. And, I believed.
But, still so many thorns persisted.
The pesky, persistent thorns described in Matthew 13,
“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
The thorns in my life choked out much of the seed that fell. Growth of the good was slow. It was shaded and undernourished due to the overgrowth of thorns. Little tiny roots took hold, but years and years of thorns reached tall. Their roots held firm, established.
Thorns of fear, depression, anxiety, anger, disease, selfishness, pride.
But, the gardener…
He continued to tend to His seed. There was no negligence on His part. Only love and care. He remained close by, filtering what came to me. Oh, He prunes so lovingly. He pulls away the thorns, little by little as I let them release.
With barren spots where the thorns were uprooted, the Sun can now shine on the seed, the good seed, with it’s little sprouts and thin roots growing deeper.
His fellow workers sowing more seed, teaching the truth, choking out more and more thorns.
The weeds the enemy scattered becoming smaller, withering away without anymore deceitful lies.
Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a little fruit emerges. It’s new, unexpected, beautiful. The root below was once thin, and is now strong, carrying life, victory, and the Kingdom through it’s cells, feeding the sprout.
The sprout reaches up to the Sun, while it shades out the thorns below. Now it’s the thorns that become thin and shriveled, while the fruit develops.
Because of the One who wore the crown of thorns, the enemy’s power in my life, the thorn bearer, now lies defeated.
Dear one, the Lord tends to us so lovingly, so patiently. Pruning, sowing, cultivating. His love is deep, nourishing, victorious. Let go of the old thorns and see the fruit He will bring into your life.
Lisa Louise 
Great post. I really love the way you go to Scripture and find your life in the midst of God’s Word. Oh… if we would all do that!
And this parable, in some respects, is the most important of all. It is not my personal favorite, by any stretch, but it helps unlock all the others.
I live more in Mark than Matthew, but there is a lot of overlap between them and this parable is one of those overlaps. The differences between each account are minor. The general gist is the same for both. But in Mark, this parable is the first of all the parables, and the most lengthy. Mark tells it twice: Once for the crowds and leaves them to ponder it without explanation, but then the second time he tells it to the disciples with explanation and ends by asking, “If you don’t understand this parable, then how will you understand any parables?”
So often, we modern Christians treat these stories as if they are just simple illustrations based mostly on agricultural ideas that simple people readily understand. And that is likely true, but we should not reduce them to that. For when Jesus speaks of soil, we might do well to think of Promised Land. Seed cast around … and some of it falls on Promised Land while some falls elsewhere.
Such an observation does nothing to detract from our hearts reception or rejection of the seed. Is your heart Promised Land? Or is your heart a beaten down rocky path? We can allow the parable to speak in both metaphors at once!
The thorns and thistles are the WORRIES of the world around… and the deceitfulness of riches etc… We might think of them as distractions from FAITH… Like Peter getting out of the boat; he was doing good at first – looking to Jesus, but when he got to noticing the wind and waves, he started to sink! Kudos for getting out of the boat, yeah, but the worries of the world started choking his faith!
We all struggle with this. But your post helps give it a name, and a name then has a handle on it that we can grasp. Living our lives in the mystery and wonder of God’s Word, exploring his Word and finding the rich mysterious ways of applying it to our lives – OR BETTER YET discovering ourselves in it – is so important!
I am hijacking your post with my comment, I fear, but I really just want to say thank you for doing this and to encourage you in it! You looked at this parable and found yourself in it! This parable, in a very real sense, is the Word of God. It also is the WORLD God makes – the creation he speaks into existence. And you have chosen to find your life there! And you demonstrate to all of us willing to read your blog a little bit of what exploring that world is like! And I am so inspired by it.
Please, do more of this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even when you were a little girl you could write poems. So proud of your talents.
Love this!
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome post !!
LikeLike