What Kind of Soil?
Insights From Vacation Bible School
Growing Where Grace Breaks Through
Seeds, Cups, and Cracks
Our Vacation Bible School “gardening project” was simple: each of us got a small plastic cup, a bit of dirt, and a few seeds.
By the end of the week, some cups were bursting with green shoots… and others looked like lifeless lumps of mud.
As we carried them outside, I noticed something unexpected — the same plants were sprouting through the cracks of the church sidewalk.
They hadn’t been planted there. They’d just blown where they would — breaking through hard concrete to reach the sun.
It was the same soil, the same seed, the same light — but radically different results.
And suddenly, Jesus’ words in the parable of the sower made perfect sense:
“Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:8)
The Miracle Beneath the Surface
Growth doesn’t depend on where we’re planted — it depends on what’s happening beneath the surface.
Some hearts stay hard — compacted by disappointment or pride. Others are shallow, letting truth sprout fast but wither when heat comes.
Then there are those who, against all odds, soften.
Grace seeps into the cracks.
The roots find a way.
And where the world sees concrete, God sees potential.
I think about those little sprouts pushing through stone — fragile yet unstoppable. They didn’t need perfect soil; they just needed space for grace.
What God Can Grow Through You
We all want to be the “good soil,” but the truth is, none of us start that way.
The miracle of grace is that God keeps tending us — breaking up the ground, pulling the weeds, watering what He planted long ago.
He doesn’t give up on barren places.
He keeps planting.
He keeps waiting.
And somehow, He keeps making things grow in hearts that once felt unyielding.
Because grace doesn’t need perfect conditions.
It just needs permission.
Reflection
Where do you feel like the soil of your heart has hardened?
What “cracked places” might God be using to bring new growth?
How can you let grace take root again, even in unlikely ground?
Prayer