By the Lakeside

Again he began 

to teach beside

 the lake. Such

 a very large 

crowd gathered around him that

 he got into a 

boat on the lake 

and sat there,

 while the whole crowd was beside

 the lake on the

 land. He began

 to teach them

 many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

 ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some

 seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 

Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much

 soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 

And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no

 root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and 

the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 

Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, 

growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty 

and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears 

to hear listen!’

 When he was alone, those who were around him along 

with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he 

said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the

 kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes 

in parables; in order that“they may indeed look, but not

 perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand;

so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.” ’

 And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this

 parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?

 The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the 

path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan 

immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown

 in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground:

 when they hear the word, they immediately receive it 

with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a 

while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on 

account of the word, immediately they fall away. And

 others are those sown among the thorns: these are

 the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, 

and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things

 come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.

 And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they 

hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and 

sixty and a hundredfold.’ Mark 4:1-20

By the Lakeside

You will always find me by the water

if you listen you will hear my words

a breath of hope and song of promise

a light shimmering like  surface mist.

Love grows when it is deeply planted

watered daily and tenderly tended to

weeds can try to overwhelm us

choke out the joy, smother laughter.

Yet you will always find the words

lingering by the water's edges

on the margins of the cities

by the neglected and dry landscape.

There are gardens aching to be fed

shallow plains aching for rain

small buds straining hear good news

lives waiting for the sun's return.