I woke up rather suddenly from a particularly vivid dream the other night. Oh, not to worry – it wasn’t the screamin’ jeebies or the cold sweats sort of a dream (although come to think of it, one of those might have been more entertaining.) No, I just woke up.

In it, I was a cowboy (surprise!) running a herd of cattle across an empty desert plain, hot sun beating down from a cloudless lid of bright blue sky. I remember thinking (in the dream, that is), There’s no food or water for these critters out here. How are we gonna make it? This is a really stupid idea.

Once awakened, you know what happened, right? Yep; the ol’ little gray cells assumed it was a genuine situation that had to be figured out, and immediately stampeded off into the night like that dreamland herd o’ heifers. That’s ridiculous, I found myself thinking. Nobody herds cattle across a desert. There’s no food. There’s no water. How could they make it? Maybe they could… uh… er… hrm… That’s a really stupid idea… and then round the circle we went again, over and over and… over.

Needless to say, this went on for some time. Eventually, though, a thought occurred to me as if it was the final nail in the coffin: It’s impossible.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve run across some impossible things every now and then. And I’d venture to say that there ain’t nothin’ more daunting, lemme tell ya! It’s like… well, what the heck, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume you already know what that’s like.

Yep; impossible things surround us all the time, don’t they? A dream job, the perfect mate, an eventual golden retirement – they’re all around us. Are they really impossible? Well – maybe; maybe not. But I’ll bet you any amount you care to name that if you don’t at least try then it sure as heck won’t happen.

But what about those things that truly are impossible. Things like, for instance, my dream to finally be a… spaceman? (Sadly, it looks like the future I read about when I was a kid won’t happen soon enough for little ol’ me. Sigh.)

Not The Dream, But The Journey

Well, the thing is, even if impossible to actually achieve, some dreams are worth aiming for anyway. Why? Because sometimes, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts, y’know? By that I mean that in the effort of preparing for that so-called “impossible dream”, you might just find yourself becoming a better person!

Even the indomitable Apostle Paul (yeah, that guy who wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament in the Christian Bible) faced the same thing. In fact, he compared life to running in a race:

You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one runner gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win! All who compete in the games use strict training. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)

See, even though only one person can actually win a race, in order to compete, all who run must improve themselves. In that way, the journey becomes its own reward.

Not a bad lesson for life, wouldn’t ya say?

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Photo: A Cow, by publicenergy

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Last Spring, while eating lunch at a local restaurant, Mrs. MZM and I decided to partake of the nice weather and enjoy our meal on their beautiful, vine-covered patio. We chose a table next to one of the poles supporting the sunshade roof.

After settling in, I noticed this vine growing out of a pot next to us. It kinda caught my attention because of the way the thing seemed to coil around itself like a small, wooden boa constrictor. (Very spooky, eating next to this thing, I’ll tell ya. I kept an eye on it the whole time, just in case it suddenly took a liking to my bacon cheeseburger. Or, er, me.)

But still, it’s an interesting object, don’cha think? The way it spirals and coils around that branch as if tryin’ to choke the life out of it!

When I see something like this, I’m often reminded of a classic story from the Bible known as the Parable of the Sower.

The Parable of the Sower

Here’s how it reads in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3, verses 3-8: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

See, back in those days, when a farmer planted his seed, he couldn’t just go out to the barn and fire up the ol’ John Deere, y’know. Nope, he had to go out and work his fields the old fashioned way, hitchin’ up the oxen (if he was rich enough to own a pair – or maybe renting ‘em from Mordecai’s Rent-an-Ox) to do the plowing. And, they spread the seeds by hand.

Naturally, the idea was to get as much seed into the good, well-prepared ground as possible. But as the story illustrated, along the edges of the fields some would inevitably fall on the well-packed paths where birds could easily make a meal of ‘em. Some fell among the stones and sprouted, but quickly died from the hot sun with no soil to give them nourishment. Some of the seed fell and even took root among the weeds and brambles that grew along the outside of the tilled areas, but any possible growth was choked by the strangling growth.

On the other hand, the seed that fell on good ground, well, it grew and produced like crazy: 30-, 60-, even a hundredfold! Now that’s some good seed!

I’ll tell ya; it’s a great analogy, even today. Like any good parable (which is a story with Spiritual significance), nearly all of the elements of this story are metaphors. Jesus had to clear it up a few verses later, explaining to his slightly befuddled Disciples the seed was God’s word, and the field was the human heart. The various places the seed fell are indicative of some of the obstacles to the goal of spreading the Word.

Thus, the “good ground” meant a heart ready to receive and understand His message – and enjoy the benefits thereof – while the hard, stony ground on the foot paths was like a heart that had “hardened” itself to God’s Word. Likewise, landing in weeds and thorns might allow the seed to sprout, but eventually they choked the life and vitality out of them anyway.

Is Something Chokin’ YOUR Life?

Anyway, like I said, this vine reminded me of that story, and got me to thinkin’. (I hate it when that happens; you never know where it might lead, y’know?) Was there anything in my own life, I wondered, causing the main thing to no longer be the main thing?

I mean, I’m full of good ideas, y’know? But what is it that keeps me from doin’ what I need to do to turn my dreams into reality? That’s the crux of the matter, wouldn’t ya say?

Now, needless to say, this is a somewhat personal battle, so don’t go expecting any details or anything. (Besides, if anything interesting turns up, it’ll probably come up anyway in a future post!) But the question is also a valid one for you too, don’cha think?

So what about it, y’all? Is there anything in your life that’s sorta strangling the life out of what you SHOULD be doing? Is it time to get the shears out and, like Indiana Jones clearing a path through the jungle, whack those choking vines away?

Food for thought?

NOTE: This is yet another entry in our current What I Learned From… project. The topic this month is the World of Plants, and there’s still time for you to join us, y’all; all you have to do is follow that link and read all about it. But you better hurry; it closes to entries Sunday night, August 9!

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Photo: Constrictor, by Robert Hruzek

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