GOOD GROUND

There was a farmer who went out to plant some seeds. As he cast his seeds, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate them. Others fell onto gravel that had no topsoil. These seeds quickly shot up, but when the days grew hot, they were scorched and withered because they had insufficient roots.

Other seeds fell among the thorns and weeds so when they sprouted, the thorns and weeds choked them. But some seeds fell on good, rich soil and sprouted strong, robust trees. These trees yielded in fruit thirty, sixty, and even one hundred times as many seeds as the farmer had planted.