OK, think a bit . . . what are your priorities? What, or who, is important to you? Now, hang onto that for a moment. I have a story for you:
A teacher at an elementary school asked her students to write an essay about what they would like to be. At home that evening, while grading the essays, the teacher read one student’s essay that made her start to cry. Her husband walked in just at that moment. “What’s wrong?” “Read this. It’s one of my students’ essays.” The husband sat down and read:
“I would like to be a television set. I want to take its place and live like the TV in my house. I would have my own special place, and have my family around me. They would take me seriously when I talk. I would be the center of attention and people would listen to me without interruption or questions.
“I want to get the same special care the TV set receives even when it is not working. I would have the company of my dad when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired. And I want my mom to want me when she is sad and upset instead of ignoring me. And I want my brothers to fight to be with me.
“I want my family to just leave everything aside, every now and then, just to spend some time with me. And last but not least, I want them all to be happy and entertain them. I just want to live like a TV.”
The husband looked up. “That poor kid. What horrible parents!” The wife looked at him and said, “That essay is from our son.” (The son had his Mom as his teacher).
Wow, that’s brutal and I hope it was a wakeup call for them. Now the gospel parable is really about the word of God, and in the next verses of the gospel text, Jesus goes to explain the various ways that we can let God’s word take root in our lives.
But think those priorities that I had you focus on at the beginning of this homily. Think of those priorities like a seed that is being tossed out (i.e. planted)
Are your priorities in name only? That is, how much time per week do you spend with each priority? Think of your schedule; think of how you spend your money . . . do little birdies come and pick away at what you've been telling others are your priorities?
Or were you all excited about focusing on your priorities (i.e. on what is really important to you) and you had all these great plans for the summer and even had a good start - with that exercise routine, or that slowing down mentality, but then just like the parable, your good intentions had no roots and here we are in the middle of summer and you haven’t done much with those priorities?
Or are you like the parents in my story, that your priorities are being choked by the thorns of something like TV or work? For them, they would say their son is a priority, but he wouldn’t agree. How much time do you spend with your priorities compared to the amount of time you have with a screen?
MN Twins Baseball legend Harmon Killebrew once told a story about his parents. He said, “My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and yell, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ My Dad would reply, ‘We’re not raising grass, we’re raising boys.’”
But the parable comes around and offers us hope. For we each have the seeds of what (or who) is really important to us. And it’s never too late to improve. I’ve never met a person on their deathbed who said, “Golly, I should have worked more in my life.” Or “I should have spent more time watching TV.” Never.
You can still nourish and cultivate what’s important to you. Begin today.