Have you ever planted a seed with high hopes of it turning into something great? Something admirable? Something valuable?
Maybe you’re a fanatic of dark green lawns that carry carpet-like qualities, and you’re anticipating the grass seed you’ve recently laid down to come up and provoke your neighbours to jealousy. Maybe you planted vegetable seeds (indoors) back in February and you’re excited about the bumper crop that will come out of your efforts. Maybe you love Chia pets, and have fond memories of developing many great specimens of their kind!
Regardless of how it all looks, when we invest our time and efforts into planting a seed, we hope for a great result to come from it.
On the other hand, when that seed fails, it leaves us disappointed. We are fully aware that there could have been so much ‘fruit’ that could have come out of it.
But nothing ever did, and we lament all that lost potential.
In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus shared a story with the crowds about the farmer sowing his seeds along the path, on the rocks, among the thorns, and in the good soil. I’m sure that the farmer had a lot of epxectations for those plantings.
But three out of four of them failed. And the failures came as a result of the poor conditions of the locations of the plantings. This rings true to the fact that it’s usually not an issue of the seed being sterile or useless – it’s about the environment it is placed in.
In Part II of this entry, I will dive into Matthew 13, and talk a little more about those environments, and how they negatively affected, or even robbed those seeds of their potential. Through that, my heart is that the Lord would have something powerful to reveal to each one of us about the seeds He desires to bring to maturity in us!
What do YOU think are some of the prohibiting factors that prevent God’s best from coming to fruition in our lives?
JJ
