Good Soil: Growing Hope in Unexpected Places

When life feels hard, it's easy to wonder, Why bother? But what if God's kingdom grows precisely in those unexpected places?

In this episode of Holy Shenanigans, Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman reflects on Jesus' parables of the sower, the mustard seed, and the yeast to discover how God's generous love takes root through even the smallest acts of mercy and hope. Sharing the story of transforming a tiny, clay-filled garden into a place of beauty and abundance, Tara explores what it means to prepare our hearts as "good soil" and partner with God in cultivating new life.

Whether you're facing rocky ground, stubborn obstacles, or wondering if your efforts matter, this conversation offers encouragement to keep planting seeds of grace. Because God's love has a way of growing where we least expect it—and even the smallest acts of faith can become gardens of hope.

Join us as we imagine what might flourish when we choose to sow generously, trust God's surprising abundance, and become good soil for faith, hope, and love.

🎙️ Exciting news! Tara is recording a new episode of the Holy Shenanigans Podcast live at the Wild Goose Festival this September 3–6 at Vanhoy Farms in Harmony, North Carolina! Wild Goose is a faith-inspired festival celebrating social justice, creativity, spirituality, and community—a gathering of artists, activists, and seekers making a positive impact in the world. She'd love to see you there! Learn more at www.wi

Transcript

S7 E16 Good Soil
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Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: [00:00:00] Welcome to Holy Shenanigans Podcast. I'm your muse, Tara Lamont Eastman, pastor and podcaster, and I'm always on the lookout for the holy shenanigans of the sacred showing up in everyday life. What difference can little seeds of mercy, healing, and love make in the world? Over the past several weeks, the scripture readings take us to the Gospel book of Matthew and into the parables of Jesus.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And as I read these parables, I'm struck by how Jesus uses aspects of nature, seeds, weeds, soil, and [00:01:00] mustard plants to teach about God's kingdom, as well as the power of little things. The sower parable teaches about God's abundance, the wheat and the weeds about the importance of wisdom and careful discernment.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: The mustard seed and yeast mixed into the dough teaches about the resilience and potential of small things empowered by love. Who could have known the potential of yeast to cause loaves of bread to double or triple in size? Who could imagine the tiny mustard seed having the ability to grow into a brush, a tree so large that birds could nest in its branches?

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Jesus tells parables of tiny seeds, tender discernment to broaden our [00:02:00] theological understanding of God's kingdom as expansive, patient, surprising, and subversive. In Jesus' day, mustard seed plants and seeds were seen by the general public as an invasive plant species, taking root and taking over whatever soil they land.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: In the sower parable, the sower tosses seed willy-nilly everywhere, and somehow the seeds find purpose. Some seeds serve as food for birds. Others sprout up, but dry up, but then are added to the compost heap. Then others take root and reproduce themselves, all adding to a wild and wonderful circle of life, death, and unexpected resurrection.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Yeast makes a way through the small mixture of flour, [00:03:00] oil, and eggs, doubling and tripling in size and feeding many more people than a typical unleavened bread could. The kingdom of God, according to these parables, is abundant, overgrowing, and a means of multiplying hope, leading us to God's love like that tenacious mustard seed, the many loaves of leavened bread, and the generosity of the sower.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Wherever the seed lands, it has good use: feeding birds, fueling compost, and reproducing grain All those seeds in one way or another contribute to sustaining, feeding, or bringing sources of life or thriving. Little seeds generously sown have great potential for growth. But what if those seeds need something else [00:04:00] besides good soil, water, sunlight, and protection to make a difference?

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: With the help of these parables, I've begun to see how God's kingdom of forgiveness, grace, and love can spring up in all sorts of ways, in seeds sown, in loaves of bread, in mustard plants housing flocks of birds, and in our everyday lives. Little seeds of God's love makes a big difference. You and I are like the little seeds, plants, and loaves of bread in these parables.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: In order to grow and to thrive, we do need some care and attention, or in the spirit of these parables, I say it like this: we need some good soil. If we allow these parables to come off the page, we can slow [00:05:00] down and begin to ask ourselves and to ask God, "What good soil do I need to grow? Even better, to thrive?"

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: To help us figure out what this good soil and thriving looks like, here's a Holy Shenanigans story to help. Years ago, I planted a six by six garden at an apartment complex where my family and I lived. The caretakers for the grounds had told me the soil was impeded or blocked by a complete layer of clay about eight inches under the topsoil.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: If I didn't remove the clay from my garden, my tomatoes, zucchini, and morning glories would have no chance of growing. So taking the caretaker's advice, I proceeded to dig up the topsoil and the grass and the clay The [00:06:00] clay was totally blocking the soil underneath. All day long, I chipped and dug and dug and removed wheelbarrow full by wheelbarrow full of clay out of that small six-by-six plot of land.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: At the end of the day, I was soaked with sweat, but I had made some progress to break through to some good soil. But after all that topsoil and clay had been removed, I had to go and refill that six-by-six plot back with many bags of gardening soil. The soil was filled in, my starter seeds were planted, and the time of waiting and weeding had begun.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Every morning, I watered the plants, wound those morning glory sprigs around the fence, and watched as the blooms that promised to [00:07:00] reward me with a harvest started to grow. Over the weeks of preparation, many of my neighbors would stop by my little garden thinking it would never grow. "Why are you bothering with all this work for just a few vegetables and flowers?"

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: It was a great deal of labor for that little garden. But the morning I found blossoms on that tomato and zucchini plants, I rejoiced. The harvest from those plants wasn't huge, but we had a harvest against all odds. They produced fruit, they produced vegetables, they produced beautiful flowers. The doubts of my neighbors were turned, were changed as they also saw the wonder of those vegetables growing, and the little garden became a place of unexpected grace [00:08:00] and hope.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: As I hear the parable of the sower from Matthew thirteen, I see the determined generosity, and some might say excess, of the wide-reaching planting of the sower. Unlike my gardening experience, there was no tilling or placing good soil after all the clay had been removed. The sower liberally and openly tosses seed wherever they go: the path, the rocky ground, the thorny ground, and the good soil.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: For all the seed is sown in unexpected places. And I'm sure even for that sower, they heard the same refrain that my neighbor said, "Why bother?" This parable of Jesus has many lessons for us, but just for today, let's consider the idea of the generosity of God and how it is a [00:09:00] grace to be called as partners in the labor of God's kingdom.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Once again, this parable teaches us that the sower tosses seed, a valuable asset, wherever they go. The sower does not limit their sowing to one space, but sows everywhere. The role of the sower is to, with hope, sow seed, tossing their hopes of new life and possibility everywhere. Even with criticisms of why bother, the sower sows.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And in all this generous sowing, I see the wild generosity and the nature of God or the divine. In that critique, why bother? I am more encouraged to listen to and follow this generous God, and to come [00:10:00] alongside the sometimes illogical work of nurturing space for grace and hope. When you hear me say God calls us to the work of grace and hope, do not hear a message of work or glory.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: When I speak of all this, I speak to a call of discipleship. I speak of how Jesus calls us into the unexpected clay-layered, thorny, hot, and challenging work of grace. Grace that calls us to action, grace that moves us to change, grace that helps us to see and hear things in new ways, and grace that leads us into some necessary good trouble.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Deep, rich, amazing grace is disruptive to the status quo, like the sower, like the mustard plant, like the yeast in the dough, [00:11:00] like you as you learn to lean into sharing your own efforts of mercy and love. God is always about the work of bringing new life, of sowing seed of hope widely. Our imaginations need to be inspired by God and these parables to help us get to the work of sowing our beautiful and unpredictable gardens of God's love.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: There's a quote attributed to Martin Luther that says, "Even if I knew tomorrow the world was going to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." Here, the author of Grace Not Works expresses the call of Christians to work sowing seeds of hope even in the midst of chaos. And in this, I hear a call to action, a call to looking [00:12:00] despair squarely in the eye as it says, "Why bother?"

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And to plant our apple trees in the face of all the why bothers or worse, I think the work is worth it. Remember that summer unpredictable garden and how I enjoyed those vegetables and flowers on my front path? It was exciting to see that growth was possible with the right combination of care, nurture, persistence, and the generosity of God.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: It wasn't only that vegetables grew, but that little six by six garden became a space for people to see hope come to life. God's generosity showed up in the middle of a community that lived in a constant state of why bother? But God knew that I and my neighbors needed to see new life with our own [00:13:00] eyes and called me into work of hope where I lived.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: We all have clay barriers, weeds, rocks, and paths parched by the sun. We have neighbors, and perhaps even in ourselves the idea that new life or something good can never grow here. That voice of dissonance, why bother, is not always coming from the neighborhood, but from our own thoughts, actions, and lips.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: God's grace calls us to action. God's grace moves us to change. God's grace helps us to see and hear things in new ways. God's deep, rich, amazing grace is disruptive from our status quos. Beloveds, imagine what could grow if we bother to hear [00:14:00] Jesus and join in their generous work of God's grace. We might have some good soil to feel welcome, good soil to go home, a good soil place where we can grow.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Thank you for joining me for Holy Shenanigans, that surprise, encourage, redirect, and turn life upside down all in the name of love. This is an unpredictable spiritual adventure that is always sacred, but never stuffy.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: To support the work of Holy Shenanigans podcast, you can give at www.buymeacoffee.com backslash Tara L. Eastman or at our Holy Shenanigans Buzzsprout page, holyshenanigans.buzzsprout.com. With the help of this parable, I hope [00:15:00] that you can see how little things can make a difference. May these words of a benediction support you in all of your unexpected gardens of hope.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: God, my loving creator, work out the plot of my life. Dig past the weeds. Use your spade of love to break past the hard clay that blocks growth. Reach to the deep, rich soil of my tilled heart and plant the seeds you see fit to produce a harvest of faith, hope, and love. Until next time, may you be well, may you be at peace, and know that you are always beloved by God.

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