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
