EVERY farmer has the problem of protecting his seeds from the devouring birds. People are amused by the crazy scarecrows a farmer sometimes sets up in his fields to prevent birds from plundering the seeds. The farmers of Jesus' time had the same trouble, and in his parable of the sower the Master mentioned this. He was illustrating the results of sowing the seeds of Truth which he had been scattering as he taught—the precious facts of God's love and of man's perfect sonship with Him.
Jesus knew the methods of the carnal mind and its ways of obstructing the development of Truth, the Christ-idea, in human consciousness. And he warned (Mark 4:9), "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Christian Science scatters the seeds of Truth in many ways, but the value of these seeds is not always recognized; materialism wields its obnoxious influence and the seed must sometimes be sown again. However, there is always also the humble heart that cherishes and protects what it has received.
