Today’s Reading: Mark 3:31-4:25 

The following story was published in the Galveston, Texas paper. “It concerned a woman and her parakeet named “Chippie.” It seems that the woman was cleaning Chippie’s birdcage with a canister vacuum cleaner. She was cleaning the bottom of the cage with no attachment on the tube, when the telephone rang. She turned her head to pick up the phone, continuing to vacuum the cage and as she said, “hello” into the phone, she heard the horrible sound of Chippie being sucked up into the vacuum. Immediately she put down the phone, ripped open the vacuum bag, and found Chippie in there, stunned but still alive. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed it, ran into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and held the bird under the water to clean it off. When she finished that, she saw the hair dryer on the bathroom sink. She turned it on and held the bird in front of the blast of hot air to dry him off.

A few weeks later a reporter from the newspaper that originally published the story went out to the house to ask the woman, “How’s Chippie doing now?” She said, “Well, Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore. He just sorts of sits and stares.” Most of us can identify with Chippie. Life has sucked us up, thrown cold water on us, and blown us away. And somewhere in the trauma we have lost our song.

The rocky ground in Mark 4 did not only have rocks in the soil but it probably also had bedrock – a ledge of rock with a shallow layer of topsoil. The struggle with this type of growth is that the seeds sprout quicker, and the plant wilts sooner. We all know that natural growth is slow, continual, and gradual. If you have rocks in your soil, it’s time to sort them out and get your growth on track. By God’s power, you can overcome them. The Apostle Paul does the same thing in 2 Corinthians 11:22-33. He lines up his rocks (tribulations, persecutions) as evidence of his discipleship.

 Reflection

What rocks have life thrown into your garden that you need to dig out?