Minister Message - Determination

- Submitted by Mary Anne Grand layperson from Raymore United Church

August 17, 2026

“Then he told them many things in parables, saying: A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:3-9

Our lives are much like the Matthew reading, we start as a seed and then we begin to grow, with the guidance of our parents to the best of their ability we start to flourish and are that little person. Exploring our surroundings like the birds of the air, and like the little seedling that need good soil, lots of sunshine and rain, we too need lots of love, encouragement and respect as we grow to be productive citizens. Life doesn’t always give us a bed of roses; we sometimes fall among the thorns and then life becomes hard. I think of Terry Fox who dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean near St. John’s Newfoundland to start his cross-country Marathon of Hope. His determination was to cross Canada to the Pacific Ocean, raising money for Cancer research. His reservoir of compassion, combined with a fierce determination to bring and end to the suffering cancer causes, set Terry on a path that, quite simply, changed the world.

Although his journey ended before he could finish the race, he left a legacy that has brought a great amount of funding for Cancer research. Do you ever remember seeing a flower growing in the crack in a sidewalk or coming up among rocks, that’s determination. We need that determination sometimes in our own lives when we are told that we can’t do it or we feel we can’t do it. Remember that flower coming up in the crack in the sidewalk, that’s determination. As fall brings the harvest of what is seeded, we see the harvest of what God has instilled in our lives. To be mindful of those who have less, to have compassion and empathy to all we meet, to show kindness, love, peace and patience. And thank you Jesus for setting the example of how our lives should be lived. This is what God longs to see in each one of us. God’s Blessings.