Some seeds fall by the side of the path and the birds who are following him as he walks, and who watch what becomes of every handful he throws, fly down and pick up all they can see, and eat it up.
But the sower passes on, and some of his little seeds fall on stony places, where there is very little good earth; and when the seeds spring up and begin to grow, there is not enough earth for them to flourish, or to feed the little plants; and the sun gets hot, and they are scorched, and wither away.
But still the sower goes on sowing. And the next seeds fall among the bushes that grow by the path; and the little seeds get choked with the big, thorny bushes, and never grow up to be good plants, or to be of any use to anyone!
But at last the sower comes to a part of the field where the ground is good and soft.
He throws the handfuls now with joy! He knows there will be a harvest by and by! The seed sinks into the good ground, it takes root, and when the time of harvest comes, and the reapers come to gather the beautiful corn, there are heaps of sheaves; for some of these little seeds had grown up to bear a hundred other seeds! And some sixty, and some thirty!
When the Lord had done talking to the multitude, the disciples gathered round Him and asked Him why He had told them that story of the seeds—called a Parable.
Then Jesus explained to them that the seed that He had been talking about was the Word of God.
Those who try to tell other people about God, are like the Sower. And the ground is like our hearts.
Then Satan our great Enemy, like those birds in the Parable, watches eagerly where the seed falls, and tries to pick it up and carry it away! That is the "seed by the wayside."
Then there are "the stony places." That is when the Word of God is spoken to us, and our hearts are hard, and there is no deep, soft feeling in them; no love to God. And the little seeds get dry, and wither away!