A sower went out to sow.
Some seeds fell on the path…
other seeds fell on rocky ground…
other seeds fell among thorns…
—from Matthew 13.1-9
The candle doesn’t trouble itself
with the journey of light.
The bird doesn’t care who hears.
Beloved, you waste many seeds.
You offer kindness unnoticed.
You try seventy times to forgive, and fail,
and those you forgive don’t repent.
You love the undeserving and unappreciative.
You try and try to get close to me,
yet feel no closer.
Your prayers fall on rocky ground.
My child, how much of my grace,
do you suppose, falls among thorns?
Beloved, it is the mystery of your faith
that you can not know
the life of the seeds you sow,
how far away, how much later,
in whose unseen heart
your love bears fruit,
thirty, sixty, a hundred fold.
Do not measure; do not judge.
Sow light. Sow light.
—July 14, 2017