If the ground is the heart… then we could say, “The good ground is the good heart.” If we have to prepare the ground, we could say, “we have to prepare our heart.” If another word for our “heart” is our “spirit,” then, the preparation of our heart is spiritual preparation. If the wayside, the stones, and the thorns, are the hindering issues, then the wayside, the stones, and the thorns represent spiritual hindrances.