06/16/2025
The word "seed" is used 278 times total in the bible (not including "seed's" or "seeds".) I took a deep dive a few weeks ago. The Lord loves me and knows I love a good object lesson, so He gives them to me often.
____
This is my third year using my greenstalk gardens. The first year, I direct planted small plants and we recieved a small harvest of cherry tomatoes, two jalapeños, a small bunch of lettuce the dogs ate off the tower, and a couple small radish.
Last year, I tried to sow seeds in small trays. We lovingly stored them in a little green house on the front porch. Watering and keeping them under lights until a very late spring snow killed everything and I gave up.
This year, I took what I've learned and decided to try direct sowing into the greenstalk towers. I thought the amount of soil, plus the containers themselves, would help keep the planted seeds more protected. This year, I kept the towers in my garage, rolling them out to a little platform I made them on nice days. Leaving them in the garage on the days of bad weather. And of course making sure to keep everything watered.
This year my little plants are growing.
----
Jesus is quoted about the seed in His parables in all four gospels, but it's in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, where He tells the Parable of the Sower.
Here's the Cliff's notes: a Sower plants seed. Some seeds fall to the side and don't get planted and the birds eat them up. Some seeds fall on gravel and manage to grow a bit, but their exposed roots are cooked in the sun and they die. Some seeds fell among weeds and are able to grow, but the weeds choke the plants and they yield no fruit. Some fell on good, cultivated soil, grew and gave fruit, then went to seed - which causes the plant to multiply and increase.
----
My lettuce and my bell peppers did not take. While I was whining to my favorite gardening coach - Mimi - she told me the most profound thing: "Just plant more." Really? I can do that? "Sure!" She says, "Sometimes the seeds don't take. It just happens. Just plant some more!"
Isn't it always the tiny, simple things people say to us, that make the biggest impact?
My cayenne peppers were the very last to pop up. I also complained about this to her that day. "Just wait longer. Peppers are slow. They take time."
Sometimes what we plant needs longer than we think it should under the soil (read: in the hidden place) before it it strong enough to face the world.
------
Hmmmm.... I see what you're doing here, Lord.
-----
What I learned in my deep dive was that the Lord has planted the seed of His Spirit in all of us. Maybe your seeds landed initially on bitterness, unforgivess, or anger. Maybe your soil has been bad, maybe you have good soil thats waiting under gravel, maybe you haven't weeded your "garden" in awhile. But the seed is there, just waiting for water and sunshine and CULTIVATION from you.
And if you've tried Jesus, fell in love, and fell away, maybe you just need to PLANT NEW SEEDS. 🌱
Matthew 13:9 - Who hath ears to hear, let him hear👂
