Jesus told a story about seeds that fell on different types of soil… The seeds that fell on the path were trampled by the careless or eaten up by birds and never put down roots or produced a crop (Luke 8:4-8). And while Jesus was not talking about cultivating artistic discipline in that particular context, the lesson is the same for us:
Your gift will die before it gets a chance to grow if you don’t prepare the soil of your life… You’ve got to give your gifts a safe and satisfying place to be nurtured and grow…
I think the imagery of the path is really appropriate in our context: there is a tendency in life to fall into habits… we pace over the same bit of ground long enough and we wear a path there. For me, this is a particularly intense struggle…
I could eat at the same restaurant every day… Camp in the same park… Hike the same trails… Visit the same attraction… It’s a kind of joke between me and my wife: If I ever say something crazy like, “Let’s try that new Mexican restaurant,” she will mock me relentlessly.
The “paths” in my life are well worn and tightly packed… I like them that way. These ways are safe… they are comfortable. There is little risk in walking these roads, unless you consider it risky to avoid my own potential.
Because sowing the seeds of my potential on this well-packed soil is pointless… It will either be trampled on by passers-by or consumed by scavengers.
So, for me, breaking up the fallow ground starts with plowing up my comfortable path… or leaving it altogether and casting my potential onto the fertile soil of risk…
This metaphorical outlook points to a single, profound principle:
I must develop my character in a way that gives my gifts a safe place to grow and be fruitful.
See, this is the place where our leaders failed us… We received the most applause when we performed or produced or succeeded. This is especially true of kids growing up in church. I was 8-years-old the first time I sang a solo in “big church.” People started talking immediately about Tim-the-Music-Minister. It would be 20 years later that I first heard the suggestion that talent-alone was a poor substitute for substantial character…
Here’s another example:
As creatives, we have a tendency toward pride… In fact, most of us will always dance on the fine line between self-confidence and arrogance. The first gives boldness and voice to our work, the second brings opposition from God Himself (James 4:6).
Pride packs the soil of our lives in the same way that routine does… and we have to plow it up and abandon the path in the same way. In this example, humility is the fertile soil where our gifts and talents will grow and be fruitful…
What has packed the soil of your life into a well-worn path? It could be fear of failure or a critical spirit or deceit… It might be 2 or 3 of these examples or one that I haven’t listed…
NEXT in this series: Character and Discipline…
