'The problem isn't the seed, it's the soil'

This is the first of a mini-series of articles looking at the four soils in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13v1-23).

There’s a humorous little cartoon that does the rounds in Scotland every summer. Picture the scene: a Scottish man is reading out a Shakespeare sonnet to his beloved. Behind them is a window that reveals the lashing rain outside. "How dare you compare me to a summer's day!" she angrily growls to him. Hashtag summer in Scotland.

During the bitterly cold winter nights it’s often the thought of some June sunshine that gets you through. Yet when "summer" comes it often feels like an anti-climax. Surely there has to be more. We waited all year... for this? Is this it?