I mentioned in an earlier post I have been taking a Beth Moore Bible Study called "Stepping Up". Oh how I have been blessed by this study! It is about the Psalms of Ascent, meaning the psalms the israelites sang on their pilgrimages to the three feasts. She draws the parallel to their pilgrimage being to Jerusalem, which literally meant "The City of Peace", to our pilgrimage to Heaven, which of course is the "True City of Peace".

Well, I won't give away too much more from the study but to say last night I gleaned something from the parable of the seed that I am sure will change my life forever. Luke 8:11-15 is where you'll find the parable of the four soils. We've probably all heard the parable and are familiar with its meaning. However, Beth pointed out that many of us eat the seed. Eating the seed is when we hear a great message and we may even cry and feel guilty and want to change but instead we just eat the seed. We go home, go back to the same old ways, never change. Instead she urges us to hear the seed, lay it down, let it grow. It may not be tomorrow or even in the next year or two, but the Lord will let it bear fruit!

I sat there thinking how overwhelming it was that each of us probably had a different meaning of that in our lives. To me, I sat there thinking how I have ate the seed so many times when I hear messages about taking care of my home, my husband, my children. I've read "Created to be his helpmeet" and "The Excellent Wife". There are definite things I grabbed from the messages and applied but others I have yet to use. It's not because I didn't agree, or I wasn't convicted. But because I did not take the time and heart to lay it down...to give it to God.

What a powerful lesson I learned last night! I will think about this everytime I hear a message and feel convicted! I do not want to waste any more seed! Praise the Lord!