Your Summer Reading List May 31, 2026 Devotional

The Sower

“We’ve got worms,” came the cry from my wife in our backyard. I hustled outside to investigate what was happening, thinking what does a worm invasion look like? I found my wife stooped over her garden with a big smile on her face. “We’ve got worms,” she repeated with joy. Apparently, the presence of worms is the marker of success in establishing good soil.

My wife, with great attention and diligence, has been tending the gardens in our backyard for years; working hard to get the soil just right so that it will produce good crops. It is so fun to walk to our ‘farm,’ grab some corn, or a tomato, watermelon, a pepper, and eat it. Farm to table at its best!

We wrapped up a series in May about the early church and the habits they formed to live a lifestyle of worship. As we head into the summer of parables, what habits have you formed or would like to form, to produce good fruit in your life?

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!”
Matthew 13:1-9