3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.

To "Sow" reveals that seed was falling on soil. The soil was the different "hearts."  People knew that some soil was easier to work than other soil.  It took work and time to prepare the ground to receive the seed. That principle is still true.

Some fell along the hard path and the birds came and ate it up. I remember growing up walking to school every day. There was one house that was on the corner that had a larger yard across the street from the school. A straight line is the shortest distance between two points, and it was a shorter distance to walk across this lawn than to follow the sidewalk around the house. Like a cow path no grass grew there because people kept walking on the same path. One day the people put up these small little decorative fences. We walk around those little fences and got back on the path, which instead of a straight line, now made a design of a couple of hooks at each end. Finally, they solved the problem of growing grass by spending the money to put up a fence all around their yard and locked the gates. Kids would have to climb the fence and that took more work than walking down the sidewalk. The seed on the paths didn’t grow. Birds ate it up.

Some fell on the rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow, then the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no root. I observed when walking in the BWCA or the North Shore you have trees growing through cracks in rocks. During storms they fall because there was nothing to sustain them - not enough roots to hold them up.

Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plants so they could not bear fruit. All of us have experienced weeds in our gardens, if we have gardens. All of us know what weeds do to plants. Of course, we can't have fruit if unwanted plants, weeds, thorns and thistles take the nutrients.

Still others seed fell on good soil, It came up, grew and produced a crop multiplying 30, 60, 100 times. That's what farming is for. That's why you produce a garden. The fruit of your labor is the reward of your work. You prepare soil with cultivating, weeding, and fertilizers so that it can be rich and ready to produce fruit.

Application:  Make every day a day for planting in all my relationships.

Prayer:  Lord, that I may cultivate and fertilize all relationships in a way that allows any seed that is sown to spring up a bear abundant fruit.