I had some company last week while working to get all the seeds in the ground so they would bloom before the temperatures dip too low. Although she thought she could be camouflaged, I caught Queenie catching a cat nap (pun TOTALLY intended) in one of the garden rows where I was planting. I never really thought she looked like dirt before... and that's probably not a compliment any lady wants to hear... but given that she did, in fact, look much like the dirt in the rows I was planting, I couldn't help but contemplate the process that happens when a seed is sown.
Some seeds have to have total darkness to germinate, which means... they must be completely covered in dirt. How deeply each seed is planted matters, too. Plant it too deep and the stem that's trying to work its way to the surface will never see the light of day. Plant it too shallow and the seed won't establish the necessary root structure to provide the nourishment needed for proper plant growth.
Some seeds can’t begin without sunlight. They must be exposed to UV rays of varying lengths that occur in different seasons of the year. Sow that seed too soon and the tilt of the earth won't give you the type of light you need. Sow that seed too late and you get a sprout that can't withstand the heat of the noonday summer sun.
Some seeds need a certain length of time in colder temperatures. One of my wife's favorite things (not really) is to open the fridge to find a drawer full of chinese chestnuts just chillin'... waiting their turn to turn into a tree. Some seeds have to pass through the intestines of an animal whose stomach acid is strong enough to break down its outer coating... preparing it to become something other than a seed. All I’m trying to say with this simplified science lesson is this...
Not every seed starts out the same way. The same is true for the fruit God is trying to grow in you.
That dirt you're covered in... almost to the point of being buried where you feel like you can't breathe... what if that's the stuff necessary to grow the roots that will produce the fruit that will feed others down the road? Those cold dark nights when you feel alone... tucked away... wondering if you will ever see the light of day... what if this period is preparing you for the strength you will need for the spring rain and summer sun. Big trees often begin in the winter. The trials and testing you are enduring at the moment... what if those are meant to remove the tough exterior so that a softened heart can spring forth a garden of gratitude and grace and giving of yourself to others who find themselves in the same situation as you are right now? And here's the last thing I'm going to say about a seed...
A seed doesn’t despise the dirt. It doesn’t complain about the cold. It knows certain conditions are necessary to allow it to come to life. A seed sits in the place of awareness that, without these things, it has no hope of becoming what it was meant to be. So, wherever you are... whatever you face... I pray you will allow God to use this growing medium to produce a garden whose produce will give life-sustaining nourishment to those who get to witness the process. Every seed has to start somewhere. Let Him grow within you what you cannot grow on your own.
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"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
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