Vibrant & Overflowing - Mark 4

I have mixed emotions as I look at the beds of Vinca we planted earlier this year. The one bed, vibrant and overflowing with colorful blossoms is within the flow of our everyday lives and, as such, has been weeded faithfully while the other bed some fifty feet away, is lush with weeds and boasts no more than a puny blossom or two. I can imagine if Jesus we're walking by, he might gather up a crowd and give His Mark 4 talk, motioning to each of my flower beds as he describes the four soils, charging each of us to maintain good soil and produce fruit thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. Pretty clear cut, but the problem is that we often apply the parable to the planting alone rather than to the constant gardening required to yield this sort of outcome. So let's weed the soil of our hearts regularly, tearing from it, roots and all, the "cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and desires" so that our lives may be vibrant and overflowing.