Jesus was the greatest story teller of all.  And there were always crowds of people around him, sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands of people came to hear his stories.  Only they didn’t call them stories, they were called parables. 

So one day Jesus told a parable about a sower, who is a person, like a farmer, who sows seeds.   Some of the seeds fell on rocky soil and some fell on soil full of weeds and some of the seeds fell on hot dry soil and   . . .  some of the seeds fell on good soil.

Now, Uncle Floyd is busy working in his garden.

“I reckon I want only good soil in this garden.  No rocks or weeds or soil that is too hot or dry.” said Uncle Floyd as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Uncle Floyd loves to grow tomatoes.  None of them is ripe yet, but in a few weeks, just when the first big tomato is ready to pick, he will call Mrs. Potato Head and tell her to get out the bread and the mayonnaise jar cause he’s coming over so they can have a fresh tomato sandwich together!  Because he really likes Mrs. Potato Head!  Mmmmm, mmmm!

Now, when Uncle Floyd planted his 12 tomato seeds, (show tomato seed packet) he made sure that all the soil was good soil and he now has twelve very healthy tomato plants.

This is not at all like the sower in the story that Jesus told.  The sower in that parable planted millions and millions of seeds in all kinds of soil, some of it hot and dry, some of it was rocky and some of it was full of weeds and some of it was good soil.

So I wonder why Jesus told a story about a sower who planted seeds on soil that wasn’t good.

Well, lets look at who the sower IS.  The sower in the parable that Jesus told is God.  God is the farmer who scatters the seeds. 

And the seeds?  Do you suppose God wants to grow tomatoes like Uncle Floyd?  Nope!  God wants to grow . . . ta da . . . LOVE.  He wants to grow HIS LOVE, see?  Here is a seed packet that says LOVE.

And the places that God plants that love isn’t really in the ground, it is in our hearts. 

Now, unfortunately, some of the hearts where God’s love gets planted are hot and dry and the seeds of love soon die.

And some of the hearts where God’s love gets planted are full of rocks or weeds and evil deeds. 

God wants so much for his love to grow that he will plant his seeds in every heart, not just the good hearts.  Unlike Uncle Floyd, God sows his seeds indiscriminately, that means even if someone’s heart does not have much good soil he’ll plant his love there anyway because just maybe the love will grow.  God always wants his love to grow!

And of course, many of the hearts where God’s love is planted are good places for love to grow.  And when God’s love grows in your heart it means that you want to do kind and good deeds every day. 

This is how it is with Uncle Floyd’s heart.  For you see, God has planted love there, and it is growing well, you can tell, because Uncle Floyd is such a good and kind man.  That’s why Mrs. Potato Head likes him so much!  Uncle Floyd is honorable and faithful to God, and . . . he grows good tomatoes!       Mmmmm, mmmm!

THE END

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