This is the fourth year I’ve been working hard on my lawn. Every time I go out there, I think about the Parable of the Sower. I usually feel kind of foolish comparing growing grass to an actual crop, like wheat.

But recently it finally fell into place that grass actually is a crop, and God’s truth is just true, whether you’re talking about grass, wheat, barley, or any crop. So, while working the yard, I’ve been learning about the Parable of the Sower.

That’s the parable where the farmer planted the seed. The first seed fell on the wayside and swallowed up by the birds. The second seed fell on rocky soil. The crop immediately sprung up, but because it had shallow roots, it died. The third seed fell on weedy soil. It took hold and sprouted, but the weeds grew up beside it and choked it. The fourth seed fell on good ground and yielded up to 100 fold.

I know that the farmer planted more than four seeds; I just broke it down that way to differentiate the different kinds of ground.

I’ve long suspected that the ground types are actually in order. Working on my grass crop has born that out. If I don’t prepare the ground at all, the seed just sits on the top of my dry hard soil, and the birds come and eat it.

As soon as I start working the soil, I hit rock. I have gone through so many changes trying to get rid of rocks–shovels, crawling around on my hands and knees picking each rock out, child labor. I even went so far as to use old storm window screens to separate the soil from the rocks.

After I got the rocks out, weeds sprung up! Back when I dug up the side yard, the whole yard was green within days. Upon closer inspection we noticed that it was not green with nice grass. Rather, it was pure crab grass.

Curtis looked up what to do with crab grass, and found out that it is best to remove it before it goes to seed. That happened to be within a week or two of when he looked it up! So he put the kids to work in the hot July sun, pulling crab grass. I worked over there too. We got the crab grass up in time. A new weed took its place. We pulled up this mystery rubbery green weed with reddish stems. After that, we got a rest from weeds. We planted Kentucky blue grass seed, watered the yard, and now it is thick and beautiful.

So how does the parable of the sower apply to our new gardening project–our first vegetable garden?