Farmer Brown he loved the ground, the smell of it, the feel,
But poor old Rick a city slick, he didn’t know the deal.
That he must sow in careful rows, inside a well tilled field.
He’d work all day, no time for play, his work it was his meal.
Dick planted beans his favorite greens, they taste so good but though
That poor old Brown grew up in town, and was clueless where to sow.
He’d throw seed in beds of weed, he simply didn’t know,
Some would lay on hardened clay till eaten by black crows.
Friend Peter’s farm was sweeter than honey from the hive,
Rick asked Pete, I must entreat how do your beans so thrive?
He said to Brown, it’s in the ground, you I wouldn’t jive,
You dig and toil in rocky soil where plants won’t stay alive.
Rick said, “man, I understand, but where is it I should plant?”
Pete replied while smiling wide, “choose soil that’s loose and damp.
Till and plow this is how to make blue ribbon champs,
The proper dirt will bless your work you will not fail, you can’t.”
Now Pete said, “bro, before you go I’ve one more thing to say,
Although we sow it’s made to grow by whom to we do pray.
Rain and sun come from the One who formed us from the clay,
Who grows the seed and meets our needs and Loves us every day.”
“Oh thank you, Pete, your words are sweet they touched my very soul,
I never considered the Almighty Life giver played such an awesome role.”
We plow the earth and He gives it birth in green beauty we behold,
And when our sod is blessed by God we’ll gather hundred fold.
God’s Word we send in hearts of men to those who understand,
We plant them deep in souls to keep to those who yield to God’s command.
Yet those who aspire for worldly desire they surely will not stand.
The hardened heart will have no part in the Kingdom of God’s plan.
Now we sow seed to those in need whose hearts are fertile ground,
We pray today that it will stay and from these souls resound.
A harvest song from Holy throng, who by His blood are bound,
Who leave this earth for heavenly birth, where waits for them a crown.
Tertius
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil
is the man who hears the word and understands it.
He produces a crop, yielding a hundred,
sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Matthew 13:23
A note about “Ground Rules”: This is simply the parable of the sower set to rhyme. I try to constantly beat it into the kids’ heads the importance of the Bible. Okay, I don’t beat them, but I’m plowing, tilling, adding fertilizer, pulling weeds and planting. Come to think of it, they’d probably rather take a beating!