Seeds
I realize that most of you who read this blog may not see the potential, wealth, beauty, and diversity wrapped in that one little word, at least not yet.
However, you encounter seeds every day, whether you know it or not. They are the coffee grounds you dumped this morning, the sesames on your breakfast bagel, and the baked beans you ate at lunch. The list goes on.
For the farmer, the seed is everything. Their lives and livelihoods revolve around the seed. They keep it and plant it, water it and feed it, watch it grow, and then harvest it and save it for next season. They create thousands of food varieties and unique cultures with their seeds.
We now see seeds in the heart of strife and debate. Farmer’s and their seeds are under threat, but that is not what I wish to discuss here. For that issue, I recommend a great short film called “Seeds of Freedom” put together by people more knowledgable than myself. You can find it right on Youtube.
What I have come to see is that in many ways, I am a seed. I was planted in Malawi, and for the first several weeks I was just trying to adjust to this change. I learned the safe way to drink water, where to get food, the roads and how to find all the things I need. This is just what a seed does when it sends out its first roots.
You still can’t see anything at this point and the insignificant looking seed is under ground and looks like it is doing nothing. This is how I felt for a long time and it is a feeling I still struggle with a lot. What am I doing here? How am I actually impacting this place?
But then one day, something pushes up from the soil. It is a little more established and the seedling finally puts out its leaves and tests itself out in the world. It is still just a tiny plant in need of a lot of care and patients to grow. But it will grow and one day it will bring fruit that will nourish others, but most importantly, it will bring seeds that will pass on the life and works of the first plant.
I am learning to be more patient with myself and have faith because I am where God wants me to be.
And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Luke 17:6