Daily Devotional for October 31

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October 31                                                     Matthew 13: 1-9

Church members thought the annual festival a great place to
circulate newsletters, so they printed an extra three hundred
copies. Within a short time, Mark and Dee had handed all of
them out to festival-goers.

The church, proud of its newsletter, took seriously the call
to reach out to others in spreading the good news of Christ's
love. Mark and Dee were pleased with their work. They had
given out copies to anyone who would take them. But as they
loaded up leftover balloons and other items from the church's
booth and prepared to leave the festival, they found that not
all of the newsletters had been treated kindly.

Some lay crumpled in a trash bin, not far from the booth, their
message never read and lost forever among discarded hot dog
wrappers and soda cups. Other newsletters had been carried
across the festival grounds to a picnic area where they now
lay, their bright color bleaching in the sun. Their owners had
forgotten to carry them home. Only a few of those newsletters
had, perhaps, been read before being left behind.

The parking lot outside the festival grounds bore more news-
letters. Tire tracks marred some of them; the wind had
scattered others. Maybe at least a few of those, too, had been
read before being dropped.

Like many of the seeds in today's parable, many of the news-
letters had fallen on barren ground. Others, though, had made
it into people's homes, where their message could change lives.
Dee and Mark knew this. They knew their time hadn't been
wasted.

What was important was that, as Christians, they had sowed
good seeds.

              Dear Saviour, bless our seed sowing.
       And help us not to be discouraged when some
                     of our efforts fall short. Amen.

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From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.1989