I’ve quoted from Stories With Intent here in Weekend Wisdom before, but I can’t help but go to him again this week. He has a gift for getting to the root of a parable and summing up its meaning in pithy lines. Here’s his summary on the Mother of all Parables, the Sower and the Seed:

The parable is about hearing that leads to productive living, and adapting the parable will mean enabling people to move past merely hearing words—even with joy—to hearing that captures the whole person. People think they can look like giant oaks without putting down deep roots. When they realize how much effort it takes to put down deep roots, they too often settle for being bramble bushes.