Matthew 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:1-18: Do you ever think about what you look at but don’t see? Maybe it is a deer in the woods or a squirrel in a tree. You see the trees but you miss what is before you because you just don’t see it. Or maybe you see a bush of flowers but you don’t see the butterflies or the bees sitting on each stem. I wonder if that is not what the parables were really like. The truths were right there before their eyes yet seeing they did not see and hearing they did not hear. Is that like us too though. We sit in church week after week and some come away just have checked a box that they attended and yet others are like a sponge and God fills them to overflowing and they go out during the week squeezing their living water on any and everyone. They both hear but one truly understands and gets the message and lives it out. The other did not absorb nor did they have anything in them to pour out on others. I am sure there are times I am like the sponge and I must admit there are times I am just not seeing or hearing what is being poured out before and on me. Father please forgive me for the times I am really not listening. Help me hear your voice every time you have a word for me. Help my heart be tender and ready not just to hear but to act. Help me to see where You are at work and what You have for me.