Small Seed Beginnings

In my toddler Farmyard Friends class, I asked the students what seeds they wanted to plant while we sang the song, The Farmer Plants the Seed.

"Strawberries."

"Carrot Seeds."

"Apples."

"Waffles."

Yep, two-year-old Grant wants to plant waffle seeds. (I'd like to hang out in his garden!)

Now, I am not the best gardener in the world, but even I understand this truth - when a seed is planted in the ground, that which is hidden inside begins to emerge. If you plant strawberry seeds, you get strawberries. If you plant carrot seeds, you get carrots. Nothing complicated about that.

For whatever reason, our lawn is sprouting countless weeds this spring in the warm March temperatures. The grass is being overrun with thistles, burr clover and dandelions, even though I sprayed weed killer diligently. The seeds found their way into our yard, blowing in on desert winds. And both, whether weed or grass seeds, must produce what is hidden inside. All that the seed holds must come to life.

In Mark 4, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer planting seeds in heart soil. He warns that seeds that fall in among the thorns will soon have the life choked out of them as the weeds overpower the good seed.

Weeds or good seed? Which will it be? Both come from something seemingly small and insignificant, but the results are so different.

Recently I was talking with a friend who was sharing with me an answer to prayer in regard to a family member she had prayed for. She was seeing small changes. Little seed beginnings.

Now, on my face was a smile and on my lips were happy words, but in my heart was doubt.

Could this person really change?

And unbelief.

It won't last, I thought.

My heart was closed to the miracle of smallness. Tiny steps of hope. Life. A new plant emerging.

Weeds were threatening to choke out joy. I was troubled by what I saw inside me that day:

Belief at war with unbelief.

Hope at war with doubt.

Faith at war with realism.

Which would ultimately grow in my heart soil?

Mark 4:8 -  Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

I want one hundred times belief.

I want one hundred times hope.

I want one hundred times faith.

It all begins with a seed.