Earlier this year, as I read the Parable of the Sower, something new caught my attention. As the Sower went out to sow, it says that some seeds “fell by the way side,” some “fell upon stony places,” some “fell among thorns,” and others “fell into good ground.” It’s that word “fell.” It seems so arbitrary. The Sower, who is good, didn’t deliberately put the seeds in different kinds of ground. They fell there. In the past few weeks, I have felt overwhelmed and burdened by events in the world and in our country. I find myself grasping for any threads of hope to hang on to. I fear the…