Seeds

As summer flowers fade away and seed pods drop their seeds into the earth where they will be protected under winter snows and miraculously "seed themselves in" to provide more plants in the spring often in more abundance that the previous year, so the seeds of faith have the tendency to lie dormant only to be awakened and brought to life by God working through the circumstances in which we find ourselves. When we come to realize that it is not we who provide the growth, but the mercy and goodness of God, we find new life and new growth in our relationship with God and one another. Often the darkness of a "spiritual winter" is necessary to bring about the realization that "all is grace," and that God is the give of life, not ourselves. With our gifts and powers we might be fooled into seeing ourselves as "messiahs", but indeed that is false: there is one Messiah, Jesus Christ. When out of recognition of our helplessness we turn to him, and turn ourselves over to him, then the seeds that have been buried in our hearts break open, burst with new life and spread all over our garden. Like the mustard plant that springs up from the smallest of seeds so that the "birds of the sky can dwell in its branches" (Lk 13: 19). we find that without or knowing it we are having a positive effect on the lives of others, helping them through difficulties, affirming their gifts, and helping their faith to grow. It's when we think that we have nothing to contribute and turn to the Lord, that he will enable us to allow him to work through us and accomplish more than we ever thought possible. If a tiny seed can bring forth such beauty in its flowers or such nourishment in the fruits of its branches, how much more we, when the seeds of faith bear fruit. O Lord, I am yours, water me, fill me, help me to bring forth the fruit of the vine you have planted within me. Amen.
Bro. Rene