06/06/2026
Hello all,
For a variety of reasons, I have been thinking about planting seeds. It had been in the back of my mind for a bit but it really jumped forward when I heard someone telling me about a decision that a group of people made that probably wouldn’t have a negative impact right away but could easily turn into something that caused problems down the road. I found myself saying, in response, “Why do people keep planting seeds for plants they don’t want to grow?”
As I was driving through the country recently, I was noticing just the very first signs of corn popping up. It got me thinking about the time lag that is inherent in crop farming. Imagine someone who had absolutely no idea how farming worked or where our food comes from. If they were watching a field being planted, what must they think? They see the farmer take the seed, which could theoretically be treated like food, and bury it. Not only that, they use large machines and burn fuel to put in the ground. If you didn’t know the purpose, you would think it is a waste.
Of course, we know better. We know that we need to plant seed in order to get a crop. We also know that if we wait too long, the crop won’t be ready in time to harvest it and we may not have much to show for everything. We know there is a window to act and we won’t know for sure exactly what is going to come for months. There is an urgency in planting season. I have known enough farmers to know that there is a certain unrest and drive that just doesn’t go away until the seed is planted. Nobody really likes to delay because missing the window in the spring makes the harvest either harder or impossible.
We all know that when it comes to farming, but we sometimes act like we don’t realize that the same kind of thing is active in the rest of our lives, especially with regard to our spiritual lives and making disciples. Reading the Bible for ten minutes today and hoping to have our lives changed tomorrow is like planting a seed today and hoping to harvest the plant it grows into tomorrow. We want new people to be faithful disciples. Sometimes, God moves dramatically in someone’s life and they grow really quickly. However, most of the time, it takes people time to grow. What that means is that, if we want new disciples in ten years, we have to be planting and cultivating them now.
Every day, we plant seeds. We don’t always realize it, but we are literally always planting seeds. The things we plant today will grow over time. The question that we need to ask is what, precisely, are we planting and do we really want those seeds to grow? If not, we need to stop planting them and start planting other seeds.
It will take time for things to switch over. If a farmer plants the wrong seeds, they can’t really try again until next year. They will have to deal with what they planted until then. The same is true for us. We all have to deal with what we planted in the past, but we can choose today what crop we want in the future. What will we do?
We gather for worship together tomorrow morning and we continue on with Vacation Bible School. It was such a blessing to hear from the Peru team last Sunday. Those special events are crucial and I would always encourage people to engage in them. After all, one special event called Chrysalis played a pivotal role in my coming to faith. This is part of why church camps, and other retreats are so important. They cannot sustain your faith over the long haul, but they can be experiences where you finally see, hear, or think something you aren’t used to because you are out of your routine and focused in a special way on your faith and relationship with God.
As important as those are, it is also crucial that we continue to to do the slow and steady work of building our faith into our lives, like planting seeds that take time to grow. That is why regular worship along side of others is also important. If you are in the area and able, make sure you join together in worship. However, if you are traveling or are ill, make sure you join with the live-stream. It is, in honesty, not the same as being in person and it isn’t as good but, if it is the best that can be done, it is worth doing. You can either watch it live or else after the fact. Here is the link for that live-stream:
https://youtube.com/live/G3GMu4U7M9g?feature=share
Keep your focus on God and stay cool in this hotter weather!
