Earlier this week as I was searching for something online, I fell into one of those internet rabbit holes, following one link to the next, until I ended up on a page that was absolutely not what I started out looking for. Most of the time, those rabbit holes are just frustrating wastes of time, but in this case, I landed on a page that I found really helpful and inspiring. It was a blog post from 2015 by Islamic scholar Omid Safi titled "In Praise of Softness." Safi writes about how we live in a world that values "strength." "We want 'hard' bodies, 'strong' minds, 'tough' wills, 'hard as nail' determination, 'rugged' personalities, 'sturdy' characters and so on," he writes. Instead, Safi encourages us to value "softness," "soft hearts, gentle spirits…and the gentleness to give and receive love."
What struck me about Safi's words is that they run so contrary to the world we live in now more than ever. Amid all the terrible things that are happening around us—war, mass shootings, racial injustice, the infringement of human rights, the climate crisis, there is so much hardheartedness out there that it is easy to fall into hopelessness and despair. We may just want to sit at home nursing our grievances (as I was doing on that particular day). It is tempting to wall ourselves off and harden our own hearts to the pain we feel and the pain we see around us.
Safi invites us to "seek a heart that is not hard, but soft." Speaking in allegorical language that Jesus would recognize, Safi reminds us that nothing grows on dry, hardened earth or rocky soil. The seed of love will sprout only on moist, soft soil that has been prepared to receive it. This is where faith comes in, as an antidote to despair—faith that is not an unthinking assent to religious dogma, but faith that is grounded in hope that emerges even from the deepest despondency. It is the faith that we hear in our readings from Deuteronomy and Colossians this Sunday, that speak to confused, anxious, and demoralized people about bringing forth abundant fruit and bearing fruit in their every good work.
I can't remember what I was searching for on the internet that day, but I'm grateful that it led me to Safi's words, which opened my own heart's soil. As we confront all the difficult and painful realities of our world today, let us do the courageous work of becoming "soft soil," or, as Jesus said, "good soil" that will bear fruit worthy of the grace we have received.
The Reverend Meredith E. Ward
Associate Rector for Pastoral Care