The Seed Box

My wife and I spent some time the other day at my folk’s house.  While we were there I watered some plants, trimmed some bushes, pulled weeds and mowed their back lawn.  When I was done for the day, I cleaned my equipment, packed up the car and headed out the garage.  On the way I stopped to investigate a small box that I had not seen before that was on the dryer.  When I casually flipped open the lid, I stood in awe as I was instantaneously flooded with wave upon wave of childhood springtime memories.  Unbeknownst to me I had discovered my parent’s long lost seed box.

As I am sure that I have mentioned before, that my parent’s, and especially my Mom, instilled a love for gardening in me at a very young age.  It was always a big event when she would take me out to the garage at the beginning of spring, open up the tall cabinet that always seemed to be a catch all for everything and begin moving things around until she found what she was looking for.  My earliest recollections was that of an old, beat up dark colored coffee can that was stuffed to the top with wrinkled, folded, faded, and taped up little bags of seeds.  As the years went by and the collection grew, the old can was eventually replaced with a box.  The last time that I remember going through this tradition with my Mom, the box itself had faded, was torn and taped with materials that had yellowed with age and the bottom was ready to fall out.  The box I discovered on the dryer was obviously a newer replacement for the old container… No wonder I never noticed it before!

Once the can or box was found, my Mom and I would go out to the redwood picnic table on the patio, dump all the little bags on the table and spread them out.  At this point my Mom would say “take your pick” and I would gleefully choose the vegetables and flowers that happened to catch my fancy.  Once my selection was made my Mom would sit down next to me and explain all the idiosyncrasies of each plant as well as how to nurture and care for it throughout it’s growing cycle.  From there we would find the seed planting containers saved from previous years, rinse them clean and forge on into the planting process with great expectations of plenteous, large and luscious vegetables bursting forth in my imagination.

The sight of that box sitting on the counter near the phone in our kitchen this morning, once again revived those poignant memories in me and got me to thinking about how my trusty red Bible has come to be like that box of seeds from my childhood!  Every time I walk into my study and catch a glimpse of that open book on my desk, my expectations soar as I begin to imagine all the large and luscious fruit of the promises that are contained in the seed of God’s Word.  (Luke 8:11) 

That seed when planted in the good soil of our hearts and then watered by our words and actions of faith will grow and eventually produce the fruit that we are expecting to receive.  And as every good gardener knows, it takes diligent, consistent and loving hands to till, plant, care for and then pick the fruits and/or vegetables from the growing plants in your garden.   The same is true if you want to reap a bountiful harvest from God’s Word.

When I sliced and then took that first bite from that first deep, rich red tomato that I had just picked from my garden this year, I felt like I was in heaven!  What a huge difference from those bland tasting tomatoes that you buy in the store!  There is simply nothing that compares to your own home grown harvest, just as there is nothing that can compare to your own, home grown harvest that comes from the seeds you’ve planted and tended to from God’s Word. 

The cool thing about God’s seeds, in contrast to the one’s in your garden, is that the growth and harvest of God’s seeds are not necessarily dependent on the seasons of the year.  They can be planted in the good soil of your heart at anytime.  Their growth and successful harvest are only dependent upon your diligent, consistent and loving faith.  Nothing in this world can compare with it and you’ll never know what you are missing until you plant, grow and then harvest from your own garden from the precious seeds of His Word.  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to his Word and keep asking yourself… “What HARVEST am I expecting today?”