Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Sower and Four Types of Soil (Matthew 13:3-8,18-23, Mark 4:3-20, Luke 8:5-15) (01/25/24)
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TITLE: Fertile Ground | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ellen Janson
02/01/24 -
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As Colleen grew up, the glimmer and lights of the outside world became increasingly enticing to her. She still wanted to “be good”, but she desperately needed those shoes and she was willing to pay whatever it took to have that hairstyle. God was still important to her; it’s just that there were so many other things to capture her attention. And she definitely wasn’t so sure about becoming a nun anymore.
By her late teens, good looks and athleticism had propelled Colleen into the popular crowd. She no longer needed her parents, her church or even some of her old friends. She didn’t actually say (even to herself) that she didn’t need God anymore either, but her actions spoke for themselves. She still went to church with her family, but she no longer heard the teachings - she was entirely too busy looking at the latest styles and the cutest boys.
Colleen succeeded in everything she did - from the world’s view. She graduated from college with excellent grades and landed a high powered job. She then got married to a handsome man and they had three beautiful children.
But as time went by, those children weren’t behaving perfectly, and Colleen felt like she was losing control. She had given up her career to raise a family; now younger, “more important” people were leapfrogging over her up the corporate ladder. Despite all of the creams, she was clearly losing the battle of age, and her looks were no longer the source of confidence they had once been. Finally, her husband lost his job, and the house she used to be so proud of now seemed very small and outdated.
Life had “happened”, and Colleen felt pretty empty.
One day, in the grocery store Colleen ran into an older lady who had been a friend of her mother’s, and had gone to the same church. For whatever reason, this woman recalled the. crying in church incident, and laughingly brought it up.
“I was sitting right behind you, and you were so devout. You were only eight years old! But you were crying because - you told your mom - you wanted to be a saint. It was the sweetest thing I ever saw!”
Colleen laughed this off in the grocery store, but continued to think about it for several days afterwards. It kept reentering her mind, and piercing her heart.
And she wondered what had happened to that little girl.
Colleen no longer had her mother, but she did have her mother’s Bible. She pulled it off the highest shelf in her closet, dusted it off and opened it up. Her mom had written notes all over it and highlighted verses that were obviously special to her. Cards and other memorabilia she and her siblings had made were used as bookmarks to keep place among the tattered pages. Colleen lowered herself to her knees, almost unconsciously, and felt the immense power of the book she was holding as she remembered its teachings.
This time Colleen cried because she was overwhelmed with a sense of repentance and gratitude for His grace. The words she was reading fell on soft fertile ground. She knew the lady in the grocery store had been God’s reminder to her of who she was. She knew she desperately needed a Savior. And she knew she really did want to become a saint.
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Well done.