When you add water to a seed in the right environment, in rich soil and in favorable weather, a beautiful things happens.
It grows.
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| Carrots: one of my winter crops |
It grows a lot.
From a little thing, a little speck that could be lost in the dust, grows life. Beautiful, green, life. God infused it with whatever chemistry it needs to transform from a negligible capsule into a unique something. A unique, complex creation that exudes life and breath.
It doesn't happen overnight. Or even over a few nights. It takes time. Some plants take just a few weeks to mature, and some take months.
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| A big, bright zinnia, 4 months in the making |
I love that Jesus describes faith as a seed that grows. Granted, he doesn't go into detail about the plant after it takes root. In this parable, he just talks about the environment the "seed" needs to grow: protection from temptation, from the tempter, and to be deep enough in the soil to get a solid foundation of roots.
But what then comes next? It has to grow more if it will be any good, if it will produce fruit, flowers, or more seeds.
It has to fight of the pests that would like to eat it (like temptation, it will never go away).
It has to have the room to grow roots (weeds can so easily overshadow it, block it from the sun, steal its water and nutrients - like our worldly desires for power, sex, and money).
It has to be pruned so it will produce good fruits or flowers - taking out the dead, dying, and weak parts to allow the energy to go to the good parts.
It has to fight of disease (weariness?), it has to get plenty of water and sun (like food - spiritual food in the Bible, teaching, and prayer), and it needs some good organic matter in the soil to give it the nutrients it needs (like we need a pick-me-up from the rest that God so brilliantly designed for us).
And did you know, some plants need others nearby to pollinate. It's not incredibly likely that corn will pollinate itself. Stalks of corn depend on the wind to blow its pollen onto another corn plant - which means the pollen needed to make the corn grow is often blown away from the baby ears of corn on the plant it originated from. It has to be plants in blocks of rows because it relies on the other's pollen. It's like community.
I have to say, I never thought I'd learn so much about God by gardening. I swear, every day I go out to my garden, I feel like I finally "get" a parable or an image from the Bible or something new about who God is and the earth He created.
He's a pretty cool fella with very fun ways of getting his point across.
But what then comes next? It has to grow more if it will be any good, if it will produce fruit, flowers, or more seeds.
It has to fight of the pests that would like to eat it (like temptation, it will never go away).
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| My baby snow peas; they survived an attack by snails :) |
It has to be pruned so it will produce good fruits or flowers - taking out the dead, dying, and weak parts to allow the energy to go to the good parts.
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| This marigold plant is wasting its energy on all of those dead flowers, and this new bud - which usually takes just a few days to emerge - has taken weeks. |
And did you know, some plants need others nearby to pollinate. It's not incredibly likely that corn will pollinate itself. Stalks of corn depend on the wind to blow its pollen onto another corn plant - which means the pollen needed to make the corn grow is often blown away from the baby ears of corn on the plant it originated from. It has to be plants in blocks of rows because it relies on the other's pollen. It's like community.
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| Okay, peppers don't need community. But look at all of the cute peppers hanging out together :) |
He's a pretty cool fella with very fun ways of getting his point across.
