Luke 8:15: But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
This story is familiar to all of us – seed sowed among thorns, between rocks and along pathways. Thistles and hard places do not nurture freedom and growth; they stifle the burgeoning spirit. Tilled, irrigated soil is the better nest for promoting mercy and many of us do not have the benefit of this kind of gift. Yet all of us have God’s forgiveness no matter our actions. Each of us is called to goodness no matter our surroundings. All of us are loved by God no matter our circumstances.
Let us look for fertile soil in which we might grow today and all days.
Let us respond to God’s call with the noble and good heart that is God-given.
Let us hear God’s Word retain it and persevere in it.
And let us produce with our lives a good and gracious crop that we might return to our loving God.
Select a page on the blog and consider how we might respond to God’s Word and produce a good harvest.
Isaiah 54:10: Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, my love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Today’s reflection is brief to give us the opportunity to explore the life of Paul Farmer.
It is difficult to imagine that the Alps or the Andes or the Himalayan Mountains might leave their place and yet with God’s mercy they do.
When we place all hope in God, massive obstacles are overcome.
When we move through our days in Christ’s faith, immense disabilities are re-mediated.
When we act in the Spirit’s love, impossible circumstances melt away.
God’s overpowering love moves the mountains in our lives when we act in God’s unlimited mercy. God’s covenant with us is eternal. Let us remain faithful to God and to the promises we make.
Farmer died in 2022. For more on his life, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer or Harvard’s Memorial Minute at: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://fa.hms.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum4521/files/2025-05/Memorial%20Minute.Farmer%2C%20Paul%20E._0.pdf
John Everett Millais: EstherWe have no way of knowing what plans are schemed against us. We have no method of seeing into the private places where the covetous lie on couches to weave their plots that entangle others. We canbe certain, however, that when the faithful find themselves the victims of these plots – as the Jews do in the story of Esther – that God will redeem God’s people, will release them from oppression, and will decide how the connivers are to be judged.
In the story of Mordecai and Esther, Haman becomes jealous because Mordecai does not play the game of courtier as Haman would wish, yet has influence and prestige – which Haman covets. Rather than find union with Mordecai, Haman builds a gibbet on which to hang his perceived enemies only to see his family executed and himself led to the scaffold on which he had meant to exterminate the Jew he so hated.
For several weeks we have been reflecting on honesty versus deceit and today we find another clear lesson of what is expected by God of the faithful. Earlier in Chapter 4 when Esther tells her uncle that she is afraid to go to the king to tell him of Haman’s plot, Mordecai reminds her that the faithful must do as God bids for if they do not, God will find another willing to do the work. Then Mordecai reminds his niece of the fate she will suffer if she goes against God’s will (4:14).
So when we read these later chapters – and when we spend time praying, meditating and reflecting on God’s word to us – we know that we, too, hear the words of Mordecai, we also feel the tremors which Esther feels when she sees a task looming before her that is too great to bear. It will serve us well to read this story from beginning to end, including the later insertions, and to ponder God’s plan for us as we move through our days.
We need not worry about plots schemed against us; nor do we need to create a plan of reprisal. We onlyneed to be constant to God each day, to maintain our covenant, to lay all problems at God’s feet for resolution. For this is the only way we will find peace amid the noise of the world. This is the only path to a serenity that lasts and sustains. This is the only true Way in which to live the gift of Life.
Written on June 15, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
When I was a child, each time I heard this parable I thought the king to be a bit harsh. How was the man tossed into the night to know that he should have dressed up for the party? Hadn’t he been halted on his way down the road of life and invited suddenly to the Wedding? Now as an adult I understand that the point of this story is about being prepared always. It is about going about life as if each day holds an invitation for the Wedding. It is about rising each morning knowing that we are called. It is about taking the time each morning to put on the wedding garment before I step across my threshold into the world. It is about checking the garment for readiness several times a day. It is about laying out that garment each night as I go to my bed in preparation for dinning the next day.
Christ is constantly prepared to receive us. God the Father is constantly guiding and protecting us. The Holy Spirit is constantly abiding and comforting us. Can I not be constantly mindful of these great gifts of being called, being protected, being loved?
May we never be reduced to silence as is the guest in today’s parable.
May we always be ready and willing to go to the feast.
May we always strive for constancy just as our God is always constant with us.
Psalm 17:6 – I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; incline your ear to me and hear my words.
It is so difficult to hear God’s voice above the clamor of the world. It is so easy to forget that for God all things are possible. We must be persistent in telling God our woes, insistent in letting God know how we feel and what we seek. We must continue to call on God, for God is our only hope.
God says: I see how frustrated you become with the big and little worries of your life; I see how your burdens wear you down. You have called on me and I hear you. I am responding to your plea but you are so worried that you cannot hear my words of peace. You are so anxious that you cannot feel my healing touch. I incline my ear to you . . . I touch your heart . . . just as you touch mine.
God listens to us more than we believe. God speaks to us more than we think. God loves us more than we imagine.
Psalm 5:8 – Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness, because of those who lie in wait for me; make your way straight before me.
We sometimes think that once we defeat a particular foe that all our problems will be solved. This is not the way the world works. When one evil is vanquished, another quickly fills the void. God’s righteousnesssaves us from all this evil; Jesus is called The Righteous One. In the Old Testament, righteousness often refers to vindication; in the New Testament, this vindication takes on a new tone of justification or salvation through sacrifice and suffering. After the events of Easter, the word righteousnesshas been used to describe Jesus – the one whose actions bring the unrighteous to God.
God says: I am always with you as your creator who loves you beyond measure. I am always with you as The Righteous One who suffered to bring you back from the darkness. I am always with you as the Spirit who lives inside of you to keep you safe from harm. Listen to My Word; it will lead you. Listen to my Spirit; it will tell you what to say. Listen to my Voice; it will tell you where to go and what to do. Listen to me . . . and those who lie in wait for you will be as dust before the wind. Walk on the straight way without fear.
May you hear God’s word as you go to sleep tonight.
Psalm 81:9 – I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, for God is speaking peace to the faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to God.
When all is quiet it is not so difficult to hear the words we must say, to understand the actions we must take. When all is going well it is not so difficult to find the courage to do what we know we must, even when it is something we would rather not do. But, when the demands of the day come galloping at us, we cannot always hear the voice of God; our boldness and our confidence melt away. This is when we must fall into our trust that God is with us in the cacophony just as God is with us in the peace.
God says: My ways are the true ways because my ways help you to open your hearts, if only you will suffer with me a little while. Can you not watch with me for an hour or so? Can you not turn your heart to me?
Hoping you have an hour or so to spend with God who is always waiting patiently.
Enter the words God’s Ways into the Blog search and listen a bit while reflecting on God’s ways.
Psalm 31:5 – Into your hands I commend my spirit, for you have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth.
We think of these as some of the last words Jesus spoke from the cross. We might want to use them frequently ourselves. In fact, we will want to use them each time a new burden falls upon our shoulders.
God says: Do not worry about bringing your problems to me. I am never on overload. I always have time to hear you. I will not lose my patience with you. I have eternal time on my hands and I love to hear you speak to me. I am happy when you are happy. I am sad when you are sad. This is a truth upon which you can always rely. I understand your tribulations. This is why I walk among you. I have already redeemed and rescued you, and I have paid a great price. Rest in that knowledge and in my love, and trust me.
As we say our daily prayers, let us commend ourselves to God; and may we experience the freedom of his redemption.
Click on the image above to reflect more on Those Hands.
Psalm 32:11 – Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord; shout for joy, all you who are true of heart.
Being true of heart is difficult, but once begun it is a practice we cannot give up.
God says: I come to walk among you in truth – a very special truth. It is the truth that will set you free. Once you begin to live in me and in this truth, you will feel uncomfortable living any other way because you will living in The Way.
May you find the true stepping-stones of The Way with greater ease and a lighter, freer heart.
Luke 8:15: But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. 
The Noontimes 