This got me to thinking and expanding on what he had said. Yes, the seed has enough energy to produce a tree but not before it reaches out and takes water, nutrients and sunshine. It does not do it without help.
Imagine that our Christian life starts like that seed, slightly withered, nothing significant at all, just waiting for something to happen but, to all appearances, dead to the world. Then the good Lord sends His rain which might be in the form someone who has steadily been praying for you or maybe they have sat you down and drenched you with the words of the gospel. Your hard, outer coating begins to soften and suddenly, gradually even, that moment happens, and from your dead heart begin the stirrings of new life.
First you reach out a tiny shoot of hope and feel around. You see light - it is good! More rain falls and the sun shines on you and you feel little threads of roots beginning to form, wriggling down and around as you feast on the scriptures, holding on firmly to the truths you have read and heard, taking everything in just like a plant taking nutrients from the soil.
Your roots grow deeper still as you begin to meet with other Christians and begin to pray and have conversations with the Lord. You grow taller and begin to form leaves which divide into branches.Sometimes the sun is shining on you and you can bathe in that glorious warmth. At other times the winds blow so hard you fear your roots will be ripped right out but if you have a strong hold on that rock beneath you nothing will make you let go.
Slugs and bugs and mildews are always around, just like those everyday minor issues that eat away at you. The odd white lie hear, a bit of gossip there, you're too tired to read your Bible today, worries and cares - they can alter your appearance and stunt your growth. You must remember to reach out those branches, praying to the Lord for help and guidance, asking for forgiveness, turning back to Him and letting your roots take up the support offered by your fellow Christians.
As a tree waits for a change in the seasons so we must wait on the Lord. Just as a tree drops it's leaves carrying the slugs and bugs and mildew, in autumn all our cares and worries will, too, fall away. As a tree sleeps and protects itself against the ravages of winter we should take a time to rest and recover as we delight in the scriptures and converse with our Lord, ready to break forth refreshed and new again in the spring.
As summer comes we will mature and start to form beautiful flowers so everyone will easily recognise which family we belong to. As the flowers fade seeds begin to develop which eventually ripen and ready to fall. Not all our seeds are productive. Some are greedily taken by squirrels who bury them in the stump of a tree for future use but, invariably, forget where they left them and they rot away. Others are blown away on the wind, never to be seen again and we may never know what happened to them. But none of this is our concern. All we have to do is produce the seed and fling it out on whoever passes by - the Lord will do the rest.
