But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Matthew 13:23 (NIV)
Many people think that feelings have nothing to do with your spiritual journey. But feelings are signs and symptoms of what you’ve been planting in your heart. And your heart is the key to getting God’s promises to show up in your life.
For example, let’s say you’re lacking God’s peace or joy in your life. It’s possible that it’s just because you haven’t been planting the right stuff in your heart, and now you’re harvesting things you don’t like.
It’s like someone walking around with a big bag of stuff they’ve harvested from their garden—cucumbers, carrots and watermelons but also thistles and poison ivy.
While they were planting, they probably didn’t care. They just kept throwing all kinds of seed into their garden, hoping for the best. They thought, I can deal with rummaging through the thistles and poison ivy to get to the cucumbers and carrots.
But after a while, it’s going to get old. One day they’re going to reach in that bag when they’re really hungry and come out with nothing but a rash!
That’s like many of us today. We think it doesn’t matter what we watch or do or say or who we hang out with. We’re just throwing handfuls of mixed seed in the soil of our hearts. Then we say, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”
It doesn’t have to be that way! You have the power to influence and change your future.