Last week I started a series of three blogs on the subject of what kind of soil we are. Today I am focussing on superficial soil.

In Jesus’ day much of the farmland was just a few inches of topsoil over rock, with nothing much to sustain the roots.

Many of us can be like this. We can look the part, wear the christian smile and know the right songs. We can teach our children bible stories, turn up for prayer meetings and make cakes for charity events. We can love our vicar and order things from Cath Kidston catalogues and know how to make Jam. Deep down however there can be great big gaps in our belief systems and very little going on in our faith.

If storms come and wash away the top soil and the veneer is gone, there is nothing much left.

Superficiality is one of the curses of our age. We live in a world of shallow relationships, superficial conversations, and hurried moments of prayer. We bounce from one spiritual activity to another without any real root system. We can totally miss Jesus in all the activity of doing things for Him.

Let me give you an example: last week’s Royal Wedding. Thousands of people worldwide wasted decent minutes of their lives bothering to be part of a group on facebook ridiculing Eugenie’s brave hat choice, rather than dwell on the real substance of the day.

I have some thoughts on this:
1. I loved her hat. I thought it was a brilliant piece of creative lunacy designed to be fun and provoking. Good on you Eug!
2. If the owner of the hat had been a model, everyone would have loved it.
3. I cared more about what William and Kate do with their lives and the promises they made to each other than whether or not his cousin’s millenary attire resembled a pretzel.

But it is easy to get sucked in to such trivia.

Lord forgive us for spending time on things that do not matter.
Help us to trust you with the big and little things of our lives and to be aware of which are which.
Help us not to be superficial soil, but to be deep enough for You to plant Your secret and amazing dreams within us. Amen