Big Questions from Little Seeds

Tiny seeds slowly drift down from Cottonwood trees, riding white threaded parachutes. Some seeds landed on the grass, others landed on the track where I was walking yesterday. Just drifting at the mercy of the wind, some seedlings continued to an area where they will start the cycle of life to become new trees. Others remained in areas where trees will not grow.

This summer I have had many seedlings start to become beautiful little trees; many of which seem determined to come up in the wrong places. Green and beautifully growing, sprouts are found in potted plants, cozied up right next to the house and in flower beds. While some can be transplanted, others have to be pulled up or cut down. Holding these tiny seeds in my hand made me think about seeds in my life. Walking along, I was considering a two part question: what seeds are being sown by me and what seedlings are coming up in my life? 

What seeds are being sown by me? Are my words full of truth, grace, mercy and seasoned with salt? Are my actions demonstrating values of love that is bearing, believing, hoping and enduring? What about the heart behind these things; is it self-focused or as a servant heart? Continuing to walk around the track, I used the time to focusing on these questions and know that if I answer honestly, my best answer would have to be - sometimes. I can have seeds in my hand, ready to plant when fatigue, fear, or simple distractions in my everyday life causes poor planting. Seeds land in shallow soil or on rocks where the roots cannot grow as needed. I am glad that God gave me the ability to learn from my lessons (and even laugh at myself through some of them) as I continue to work on this.

What about the seedlings coming up in my life? Weeds are persistent; I wish every year as I work in the yard that once the garden was weeded, it stayed that way! But, they seem to tirelessly spring up again and again. So, I consider what I need to root out and what do I need to continue to root out? This last month and a half, I have felt vulnerable walking through a season of grief, did I seek out the extra stability needed from God’s word and spending time with Him? Am I seeking out the nourishment and water that seeds need to grow strong? Again, I thank God that in these questions that He is the Master Creator that ultimately makes good plants grow and will plan and work with me in my garden.  

Many questions, all good to pursue. Not out of guilt or fear; but with joy in sitting and enjoying a worthy labor, and knowing that my dirty hands have helped to make a garden grow well. 

“Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: ‘Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’” ~ Matthew 13:3-9