I read the parable of the sower in a new way recently.

Howard Schultz, the most significant CEO of Starbucks, said that he learned about failure when working as a sales representative for Xerox. His job consisted mostly of making cold sales calls. He faced a massive amount of rejection. Obviously, God used that in his life to make him a great leader during the next chapters of his life.

So here’s the parable from Matthew 13:3-9: A farmer scattered abundant seeds across various types of soil. Most of the seeds never grew into lasting plants and did not produce any value.

That farmer was a picture of God’s servants… we, His servants, should expect rejection and failure.

I’m in a period of work transition. I’m seeking contract work in the area of marketing. There’s a lot of rejection, partly because of the market being flooded with others seeking work.

God knows you and me. He understands us.

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Paul Merrill writes here every first Friday.

He generated the painting above using ChatGPT.