Gardening can be frustrating. I have, yet, to successfully plant things from seed. I tend to go the easier route of buying already rooted, green leafy plants to put in my garden beds so that I can be sure something will grow from it. Isn't that why most of us buy our groceries from a store? It takes time, energy, space and care to toil the earth. Most of us don't like to gamble with the whole seeding process. All we see for a while is black dirt, nothing happens.....we water it, we make sure it gets enough sun.....still, we wait.
We get impatient because we cannot see what's happening under the ground. What happens first is that the root system is growing down, holding the seed in place and drawing nutrients from the soil. If a little green plant came up without a root system, it would not be grounded and it would be malnourished, so it would fall over, get trampled and die. Every plant needs good roots to grow up as a strong, sturdy plant. My favorite of all plants are trees. I have always loved trees. Where ever I go, I can spot an unusual tree. Trees make me happy. One of the most memorable moments for me was hiking through a Redwood forest in a park near San Jose, CA eight years ago. Looking up, all I could see was tree-tree--more tree--and then the sky! I couldn't even wrap my arms around some of them, they were so thick!
There's one tree, in particular, that makes me happiest! I wish it could grow here. It's the Baobab tree that grows all over the African continent. I grew up around these trees in Burkina Faso. They have a chubby trunk with short branches and a small canopy of leaves. We have a picture of Marshall, when he came to see Africa in 1999 before we got married. He's with 10 or more kids from the village I grew up in and they barely reach around the tree, the trunk is so thick. It is so hard to fathom that those trees started from a tiny seed. The seed had to take root, withstand all the elements of weather and survive the possibility of being pulled up or trampled. They took years and years to mature into these pillars of strength!
You all know where I'm going with this, right? Anyone who knows and has accepted Jesus has the opportunity to plant spiritual seeds. We are not in our jobs, class, our kid's school, neighborhood or sitting next to a stranger on the plane by coincidence. These are all God-given opportunities to sow seeds. We often have no idea if the soil (someone's heart) is fertile enough for planting, but that's not our job to know! It's our job to ask the Spirit what He would have us do or say, then trust Him to plant that seed through us. It's really not a matter of "doing" as much as it's a matter of "being." If we are abiding in Christ and He in us, then we are pollinating wherever we go! It's in the way we interact with others: how we treat our spouse, our children, the cashier and other people in the long line at WalMart, or the receptionist at the Dr. office after a long wait. We don't realize how much power we have through the Spirit to plant seeds all over our city, daily.
We live in a culture where we demand instant results, hence....microwaves, toasters, texting, google, online ordering, you name it. We truly miss out on the whole process of planting seeds and watching....waiting.....anticipating their growth. Instead, we want an immediate harvest. We judge people, asking, "Why don't they just get it? Why don't they just listen to me and follow God? Why do they keep making the same mistakes over and over?.....If they would just listen to me...." Then we become angry and judgmental.
We've dealt with these questions over the years, living among the poor. It is so hard to see kids that we've poured our time and energy into make careless decisions: drop out of school, stop coming to church, get involved in gangs or get pregnant......the list goes on. So why bother? Right now it seems like we've lost those kids. In some ways we feel like we've failed, or wasted our time, but have we? If we were loving them out of the Spirit, then it wasn't our time that was wasted and it wasn't our task to fail because God called us to it....they are His seeds. He's their Savior, not us. We may not get to see the fruits of our labor, but does that mean or labor less significant or a waste?
If only we could see the cut-out view of these seeds like in our old science book that showed how roots grow down while the plant grows up.....This is God's view. The benefit for us in planting seeds is that we grow in humility by trusting God to be the Savior and allowing Him to continue cultivating the seeds that we have planted: whether that's through diligent prayer, Him using others to reap the harvest, or our continued interaction with them. The key: Trust God and Don't lose hope!
I have many friends who have loved ones that don't know Christ: spouses, children, parents, siblings and friends. God wants to use each of us to sow seeds, so that those loved ones would see their need for a Savior and be drawn into a relationship with Him. We sow seeds by speaking truth into people's lives or through an encouraging word, but mostly by how we live. We are always sowing seeds, are they good or bad? If we are abiding in the Spirit, we will sow His seeds of love and compassion. This will soften hearts. The more we abide, the more we will sow and and the stronger we will grow....like a tree....planted by streams of water (Psalm 1)....and become strong....oaks of righteousness....maybe like a Baobob tree...(Smile)...standing firm, rooted and strengthened in Christ.
So be like a real gardener and plant seeds, through the Spirit's leading, deep in the soil....watch and wait to see what God is doing. Continue abiding in Christ and you will be like a bee, pollinating wherever you go, leaving a residue of the Spirit that lives in you.
