I cannot always decide whether it is a blessing or a curse to be older. The easily apparent blessing is that you have experienced much and may have reflected enough to be wise. Some of your foolishness is behind you at least. Yet the curse is you may not see with eyes that are new enough to imagine different outcomes and possibilities.
Some youth seem to be born wise, except where they lack the experience to tailor this wisdom. Imagination, the birthplace of religious hope and playful joy, is native to most young children. We do well to nurture this playground so possibilities grow within them. Here, they and we remain open to God.
Jesus uses parables to nurture religious imagination. Very few of the parables does he actually explain. Some scholars have suggested that one of two things is true of the scriptures where the parables are explained. Either this parable was so key to the early community that Jesus did actually explain it or it was so key that the community developed a written understanding and imposed this on Jesus. You may chose what suits you here. Yet keep your imagination open.
"To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that 'looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.' Luke 8:10
This portrait of not perceiving and not understanding connects us to Isaiah's view of God's people in Isaiah's day. (Isaiah 6:9)
So when I read the parable of the Sower and the Seed, I wonder who I am today. The church (Luke 8:11-15) meant it to be descriptive of why some follow and others loose their way. Some stay open and imaginative to God's prodding while others are distracted by the pulls of daily life, or less good desires. Some follow daily and others get drawn this way and that. Evil may lure one as well.
I much prefer to see my self as the seed on good soil which has taken root. Yet in my imagination I also find it worthy to wonder where I am each kind of soil, for I am. I (the path) can get distracted by "the less than good" aspects of life. I can nurture hurtful or judgmental places in me.
I (the rock) can be joyful in moral guidance until there is a moment when I find it inconvenient. Suddenly my favorite grudge is in hand and off I can go to nurse it.
There are thorns in me, though not as much as in others I tell myself. The "thing" in my life that I preserve for good reason can turn me stingy and protective and I can awake to see I have choked the good I might have done.
But mostly I hope I am good soil. We sweeten the soil of our lives by God's word read, meditated upon, taken as a corrective. Jesus invites us to a process of "hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience." (Luke 8:15).
If you garden at all you know that manure can be enriching to the soil when added in right proportion. So looking over our days with an eye to where we might have gone wrong can nourish the days to come. To see, to reflect, to change little by little, this is a worthy enrichment of our journey.
"A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed..."
May he find in us a right harvest.
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