Thursday, June 19, 2003
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some
sixty, some thirty.
Clarence and his wife adopted a daughter whom they were told had emotional problems. The
administrator at the orphanage told Clarence frankly that the child would be better off staying
there. But Clarence and his wife said faith and love would conquer any problems, and they
adopted the child. But it didn't take too long before they realized they had made a mistake.
As year after impossible year passed, they consulted with principals, counselors, and teachers.
Terms such as "character disorder," "sociopath," and "psychopathic personality" were used to
describe their daughter's behavior. The experts all agreed that there was no hope for
improvement.
Over the years Clarence and his wife prayed -- prayed long and hard -- with no observable
results. Eventually the girl ran away. A short time later she was caught and placed in a detention
center, and later into half-way houses and foster homes. Clarence and his wife lost track of her,
and they lost all hope of ever seeing her again. However, years later they did manage to
reestablish contact with their daughter. They discovered, much to their amazement, that she
had finished high school, attended college, married, and was raising two well-adjusted children.
"We lost faith," Clarence says, "but God was faithful. God never stopped answering our
prayers."
(Matthew 13.8
NRSV)
It is often easy for us to lose patience and wonder what the use is. We don't see anything
coming from our efforts and be ready to give up. But wait! The parable of the scattered seed
teaches us that just when we are ready to give up some seed will sprout. Just when we think
nothing will happen, growth will take place. We need to be patient and not give up, because
sometimes growth takes longer than we expect. God works in ways we don't understand, often
hidden from view. And we have to be patient.
Dear God, thank you for never giving up. Amen.
