Jesus talked about words like seeds. Words in his story were about the Kingdom of God. His point was about the hearer. Some hearers ignore the words for a variety of reasons. Some get enthused briefly but forget about them after a brief period of time. Kind of like listening to a moving sermon or a motivational speaker at a conference.
But some hearers allow the words to be planted, grow, and flourish in their thinking and in their life.
At about the same time in another land and in another language, Lucius Antaeus Seneca wrote to his good friend Lucilius a similar message.
You are right when you urge that we increase our mutual traffic in letters. But the greatest benefit is to be derived from conversation, because it creeps by degrees into the soul. Words should be like seed; no matter how small the seed may be, if it has once found a favorable ground, it unfolds its strength and from an insignificant thing spreads to its greatest growth.
Let a favorable mind receive and assimilate them. Then of itself the mind also will produce bounteously in its turn, giving back more than it has received.
I think that it would have been a great thing for Jesus and Seneca to have met. Tradition holds that Jesus traveled to the East. There are reports of his traveling to India, for instance. Seneca seemed to have little knowledge of the Middle East having stopped no farther east than Greece. Oh, well. We can take a lesson from these two thoughts.
We should be wise in our conversation. Be aware and responsible of the power of our words.
We should be wise hearers of the words. Choose wisely to whom we listen. Let the words settle in, nurture them, let the ideas blossom and bear fruit.
Faith Venture 
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