The Gospel of Luke offers us the narrative of the sower and the many different soils upon which the seeds fell. It is a parable drawn from an agricultural context, where we may assume that farmers know how to prepare the soil. That makes it difficult to understand how this sower can be so careless with the precious seeds, as he seems to cast them at will in all directions. This sower did not seem to know the nature or quality of the soil. This reminds me that I need to know and to understand my ground and what I seek to ground in it. Only as I take root in holy ground can I be grounded in the divine.  I need to be aware of myself, of what the Ground first says to me, and of the ways in which the Ground has transformed me, allowing me to take root and flourish. Unless the Word plants itself in me, takes root and becomes grounded firmly in me, it will not be able to come forth, nor to bring forth. I need to be aware that I am the first audience hearing this ancient Word for the first time, each time being a first time, because each word, story, miracle, parable, has an excess of meanings, and because of this the Word is always new, and must be heard again for the first time. Because the Word is always a transcending Word, it oversees its own progress as it takes passage through my spirit and soul. The Word grounds itself in my soul, and remains anchored, giving me stability. The Word set free my spirit, that it may wander among other spirits, alerting them to what the Word is about to bring them. The plantings of the Word is the work of the Spirit, and it is the Spirit that prepares the soil, the soul, the ground. “Dust you are, and to dust you shall return” is a reminder that the Word is never far from its ground. The Word is the ground, grounding itself in what it is, being holy in itself. Holy ground, holy word, take root in me!