Spring finally came, the weather was warm enough, and I was able to finally plant some watermelon seeds. This year I don't have the area that I did last year so I'm attempting something new, watermelons in pots. I had two sprouts that were doing great but mysteriously died early last week. Fortunatly I had saved some of the seeds I had in the event that something like this happened. Currently I have seven sprouts and all of them are doing well.
Last year I bought seeds for something like $1.19, and enjoyed several melons. I lost a few to the squirrles, one or two to the lawn mower, and few started growing too late and didn't have time to fully mature. But the melons that did mature, aside from delicious fruit, produced seeds, some of which I kept. Guess what I planted this year?
If this attempt at pot grown melons works, I'll collect more seeds to plant next year, and the cycle will continue until something happens where the planted seeds don't sprout and mature to produce fruit full of seeds. If my plan works I will have only payed $1.19 for watermelon since I was 25. And so let me ask a question, how many watermelons are in a watermelon seed?
Think about it, every melon produces dozens of seeds. Each one of the those seeds if planted in proper soil has the potential to become a vine. And with the proper care each vine has the ability to produce several melons. Each one of those melons contains dozens more seeds that can yield the same results. That's a lot of melons from a single seed. All it takes is one seed to produce an endless supply of new fruit every year.
Not every seed that is planted will be fruitful. Last year I had two whole rowes of watermelon seeds that didn't even sprout. This year I had a few other seeds that didn't, or as I said once they sprouted they died. I also dabbled a little with apple seeds, I have no idea how many I planted, but I only have one that is actually becoming a tree. Some of them never sprouted, some did but were eaten by squirrles, and some that survived the squirrles never developed roots and died. But the one that has grown, if it makes it a few more years, will begin to produce fruit. And when that happens the cycle begins again, with limitless potential.
When it comes to seeds and plants there is some amount of control we have. We decide if and where to plant the seed. We can to an extent control the water it gets, and based on planting location the amount of sun light it recieves. But no matter what we do, we cannot make it grow or produce fruit. But if it grows to maturity it will produce fruit because it is part of it's design to do so. It is a natural response to the plants stage of life.
The life of a Christian is like that of the seed. The Bible contains many different images that relate the two. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a parable of a farmer going out to sew his seed. As he scaters it some falls along the path, some along the rocky soil, some among the thorns, and some on good soil. In Nazareth, Israel there is a place called Nasareth Villiage, a place were a first century wine press was discovered, and were a section of a first century village has been reconstructed. Visitors get the chance to step back into the time, and place, where Jesus grew up, and see a glimpse of the life he experianced as a boy. While here several of the parables and miracles of Jesus become clearer and take on new meaning and understanding as you see exactly what Jesus was refrenceing as He spoke.
As you walk along the path of the terraced farming strucutre you'll notice areas where throny weeds are growing, intermixed with patches of rocks and sections of good soil. The farmer was simply scatering seed, letting it fall where it would, knowing that some of it would grow and some of it wouldn't. But he knew that the seed that did would produce a great harvest.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul gives another reference to the growing process, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth" (verse 6). Sometimes this is how it works. Someone plants a seed, and for one reason or another that is all they are able to do. And then someone else comes a long and waters that seed. But ultimately it all comes down to God makeing the seed grow to the point where it produces fruit. But just because we never get to enjoy the fruit, it doesn't mean we don't plant and water. Those steps are crucial because without them there can be no growth. If a seed is never planted it cannot grow. If it is never watered it will not grow.
And plants don't stop with growth. Psalm 1 tells us this, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers."
Every plant must bear fruit, otherwise it isn't doing what it was created to do. Every plant that grows and is connected to a source of life will yeild fruit in season. It is part of what plants do, and "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 7.19).
The life of a Christ follower is only complete when fruit is produced. Some of it is only going to be planting seeds. Some of it is only going to be watering seeds others have planted. But sometimes we get to see the entire growing process, and we get to give praise to God for that.
Are you planting? Are you watering? Are you bearing fruit? It's an essential question we have to ask, because it is part of our design and purpose as Chrsit followers. Psalm 1 tells us that those who are connected to God bear fruit, and Jesus said that those who do not are cut down and thrown into the fire. Every branch that is unfruitful is pruned so that it doesn't suck up nutrients that the fruitful branches need.
How many watermelons are in a seed? How many apples are? How many new lives are in a single Christ follower? You never know what a $1.19 investment will produce, so don't hesitate to do the little things just becuase you might not see the fruit. And when the moments come harvest praise God for them.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
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