REFLECTIONS

Planting Season

Time has changed lots of things in my hometown since I left there many years ago. Population is smaller, vacant buildings more numerous, and professional help less accessible. But I think at least one thing has remained the same. Planting season.

Fewer farmers make their living there these days, and probably the acreage dedicated to cotton crops has diminished too; but for those still seeking a living from that crop, the season for planting has begun. It is critical for seeds to be planted in time for the cycle of life to be completed before freezing winter days set in. Weather is the key factor.

Germination depends on ground warmth and timely rainfall. But if rain comes before the fledgling plants have penetrated the surface, the ground will become too crusty for the young plants to break through it. And if the rains come too late, plants will wither and die. Then there are weeds that compete for nourishment, and severe storms that can batter the plants progression from leaf, to bloom, to bowls before the fluffy white balls of cotton finally burst open ready for harvest.

The road through life is neither easy nor sure. It begins with a tiny seed—itself harvested from the fruits of crops before it. Only, seeds themselves are not life. They are but the bearers of it—shells that transport life from one generation to the next. But a seed becomes life’s container only after life indwells it—or, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, it is born again. Only then does a seed become a bearer of life.

Planting seeds, nurturing through its metamorphosis, and harvesting its fruit is a farmer’s vocation. And isn’t it our vocation too. Hasn’t the Giver of Life planted us right where we are so we can pass life on to those who follow us into this world. It is our season for planting. It is our calling in life. Life comes from life. And we are the farmers called to plant the seeds that will carry it on.

From the time the Holy Spirit indwells us until God calls us home, it is planting season. You and I are seeds bearing the Resurrection and the Life. Jesus is the Life.

And it is planting season.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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