A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a life lesson, often a moral or spiritual one. Two of the best-known storytellers of history who used parables to convey lessons were Jesus and the Greek fabulist, Aesop. Others include Confucius, Buddha, and Muhammad.
Some of these parables have made their way to the Big Screen, such as Bambi, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and The Monkey King. Add to that, from Greek and Roman mythology, the heroic tales of Hercules, The Odyssey, and the Clash of the Titans. From the Norse, we see Thor, along with Odin and Loki, come to life on the Big Screen as well.
Some of these stories feature human characters to teach life lessons, while others use animals or inanimate objects to share mortal and spiritual truths.
Today’s lesson centers around the Parable of the Sower, found in Matthew 13:3-8
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”
This parable points out a simple but poignant truth that is often overlooked or ignored today.
Growth hinges on the environment.
Where a Sower cast the seed matters. For a seed to grow to its full potential, it must be placed in an environment that is optimal for growth. It must be planted in healthy soil to maximize its potential. The quality of the soil matters.
In this parable, this truth is self-evident.
The seed represents potential. It is the starting point of what is possible. Inside the seed resides all the latent potential of what could be. The DNA of Success is hardwired into the very fabric of the seed itself. The soil is the environment where this fabric is woven into a beautiful tapestry that is put on display for all the world to see.
From the seed comes the fruit, representing expansion, increase, abundance, and success.
This is why not only the seed matters, but the environment matters, too.
Seed falling on the wayside, where the soil is compacted and hard, remains on the surface as food for the birds of the air or to be trampled and crushed by foot. There’s no opportunity for growth where the soil is hard and resistant. Seed falling onto rocky ground, where the soil is shallow, doesn’t offer a conducive environment for the seed to take its roots deep enough to draw necessary nutrients from the ground.
The seed that fell on the thorny ground also failed to provide a rich environment for growth. The competition of the already established plants robbed the seed of vital nutrients it needed to grow, limiting its potential. Only the seed that found its way to fertile soil was able to establish the strong root system necessary to maximize upside opportunity.
The highest quality seed cannot grow into its full potential without the proper environment.
Growth hinges on the environment.
Therefore, it is prudent that the Sower take note of where he (or she) is scattering seed.
So, who are the players in this dramatic life lesson?
First is the Sower. This is the individual who is responsible for setting the stage for optimal growth. The farmer tills the soil, preparing it in advance to receive the seed. He tests the soil to determine if any essential nutrients are lacking so he can supplement as needed. He makes sure there is a ready source of water in the event rainfall is intermittent.
The Sower is responsible for conducting an environmental assessment of the soil before sowing seed, and preparing the soil to not only receive the seed but to create an optimal environment for growth. The Sower is also responsible for knowing the proper season for planting to help ensure the seed has the best chance to germinate and grow. There are seasons of sowing, seasons of nurturing, and seasons of harvest.
Second is the Seed, which is full of potential. In the right environment, under the right conditions, a seed will start to germinate. This is the process where the seed absorbs water, initiating metabolic activity, and ultimately breaks out of its outer coat to start growing. Water, oxygen, and optimal temperature are critical elements of success in this process.
This is where the seed breaks out of its dormant state and starts to achieve its destiny. It comes alive with purpose as its root system begins to reach deep into the earth to anchor itself to the soil, pull necessary nutrients from the earth, and then begins to shoot upward, breaking the surface of the soil.
Now, let’s glean the lesson of this story.
You are the Sower, and you are also the seed.
As the Sower, where you place yourself matters. The environment in which you place yourself will dictate not only the quantity of the fruit you produce, but the quality as well. Your opportunity to rise to your full potential is going to be predicated on the people you surround yourself with and the environment where you spend your time.
Some of the people in your life may be like the roadway and the rocky ground in the parable. These are negative, close-minded people who are so hardened in their thinking that they are completely shut off from personal growth. Any seed of innovation, change, or improvement is rejected, given no room to even have an opportunity to germinate. Change is foreign to them, and they are content to simply accept their lot in life.
They go through life without ever really living life.
This is not ground for growth.
Some of the people in your life are like the thorny places in the story. These are the people who are shallow in their thinking. They are okay with trying something new, but as soon as it demands something of them, or is no longer fun, they give up. They spend their days scrolling social media and mistakenly believe this is real life. Their whole world revolves around the next viral Tik Tok Challenge, who’s dating who on Love Island, or the latest in celebrity gossip.
They are more concerned with fitting into the group they have forgotten how to think for themselves.
These are the people who will like you as long as you look and act like them, think the same thoughts as them, and mindlessly follow the crowd. Once you start to think for yourself, grow yourself, and act for yourself, they start to pressure you to stop changing and start conforming. Like a thorn, they choke the life out of you, limiting your potential for growth.
They want all the trappings of success, but are unwilling to do what successful people do to actually earn them as the fruit of their labor.
These people also go through life without ever really living life.
This is not ground for growth.
The fertile soil represents the people in your life who are not only focused on their own personal growth, but they are committed to helping you reach your full potential as well. This is an environment where you constantly find yourself learning, growing, expanding, and striving to reach your full potential. It’s where you’re nurtured, mentored, coached, and encouraged. It’s where you are provided with the nutrients needed for maximum growth.
The good news, and the bad news, is that you get to choose the environment you’re going to place yourself in and the people you’re going to surround yourself with.
My grandfather was fond of saying, “You can’t soar with the eagles if you spend all your time hanging out with the chickens and the turkeys.”
Where you plant yourself matters.
There are three important Sower questions you need to ask yourself.
First, where do you invest your time? Are you spending time with people who will help you grow or with people who are focused on keeping you where you are, as you are, unchanged? Are the activities you’re giving your time and attention to nurturing your personal growth or are they time-wasters that serve no useful purpose?
We’re all given 1440 hours a day. What we do with them matters, because once they are gone we can’t get them back. We are either daily growing, or we’re not.
Secondly, what environment do you need to move to in order to grow and achieve your full potential? You want to be in a place where there is no expiration date on personal growth. You want to be in a place where you can walk with wise people and become wise yourself.
Jim Rohn said we become the sum total of the five people we spend the most time with.
Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.
Thirdly, who or what is limiting your potential?
To make room for maximum growth, you must examine your relationships, activities, beliefs, habits, mindset, choices, and your environment. Part of good gardening is weeding, removing the unessential things that can take important nutrients from the soil, impeding growth in the process. Who or what needs to be weeded from your life that’s stifling your growth or limiting your potential?
Oxen are male cattle, often trained for work on a farm. Their strength and reliability make them valuable work animals, provided they can be broken of their stubbornness. Until their self-centeredness is broken, they can be highly uncooperative. They want to go their own way, do their own thing, and can be hard to manage and control.
However, a yoke of oxen, working in tandem, is a powerful duo in working on a farm. When they work as a single unit, they are highly effective.
The lesson? You want to be yoked to like-minded people who are committed not only to their own success, but to yours as well.
Your Inner Circle matters, so choose it well.
Growth requires cooperation as well as collaboration. The seed and the soil partner together to produce the plant, and ultimately the fruit. You’ve got to put yourself in an environment, surrounded by the right people, who will help push you to rise to your potential.
You are also the seed.
You were put on this earth on purpose, for a purpose. Like a seed, you were endowed by your creator with all that you have need of to fulfill your purpose.
You are full of potential.
What you do with that potential is up to you.
First, you’ve got to be planted in the right environment. Once that happens, you’ve got to go through the process of rooting yourself in a good environment, drawing from the nutrients of that soil to fuel your growth, and remaining patient in the process.
Secondly, once you’re planted, you’ve got to remain patient in the process. Once planted, the Chinese Bamboo Tree spends the next five years developing an incredibly complex root system before the sprout pushes up from under the earth. The growth takes place underground. Once fully developed, it can grow to a height of 90 feet in as little as six weeks.
There is no such thing as an overnight success. Without a good root system, you can’t have a good fruit system. As the seed, you’ve got to focus on developing the root, because that’s the secret to bearing much fruit.
Remember, successful people do daily what unsuccessful people do sometimes, or not at all.
Since you’re also the Sower, you get a say in where you are planted.
But as the Seed, you’ve also got to protect your potential and steward what’s inside of you.
The Parable of the Sower reminds us that the environment where a seed is planted matters. This requires preparation, planting, nurturing, patience, and persistence.
It also requires good seed.
You are responsible for both.
