Praying For Willingness To Be Planted As Seed For A Rich Harvest

 My friend Evelyn and I have been out for walks in the spring sunshine.  The other day we had to check the sky and we did get out between two periods of pouring down rain.  We stayed dry but we weren’t back in the house long before the heavens opened up and the rains came down. 

The pictures you see on Facebook when I put a link to this video from day to day are most often flowers and trees and water that we’ve seen on our walks.  We do live in a beautiful part of the country and we are surrounded by parks and the river and the ocean so there’s lots to choose from when we want to take a walk.

Well, it’s spring and the blossoms are starting to come out and there seems to be visible new buds and new growth on most of the shrubs. The city landscapers have been pruning the bushes in lots of places and everything looks ready for growth.

I’ve also noticed the soil in some raised beds that has been tilled up.  I only see the fresh dark earth yet.  I don’t see new growth but we know that when a seed is planted we have to be patient for it to grow and become a strong plant. 

I was thinking about that and this post Easter season we are in.  Jesus spoke about seeds as He taught His followers about His live, and then our lives.

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  John 12:23-25

We all love the flowers and vegetables that grow from seeds but it is true that the original see dies in the ground before any new growth takes place. 

I’m so grateful that Jesus Christ gave His life as the seed that died so that you and I could find life with God.  Things looked so dark and dead on Good Friday but God had a plan and in the next 3 days, God brought glorious life out of that dead shell of Jesus’ body and that life became available not just for Him but for all of us.  What an amazing multiplication that was and continues to be.

The harder part for me, and probably for most of us is the time when it’s up to us to be the seed that is planted into the soil and dies so that new life can be multiplied.  Sometimes it’s forgiving a wrong and really getting all the hurt and anger of the wrong out of us – regardless of what the other person admits to. 

Sometimes it’s reaching out and blessing someone and never seeing the result in their lives but simply having to take God at His word that when we plant seeds of God’s Word, that they will produce a harvest.  Sometimes it’s praying for someone or something and not seeing the solutions in the way and time we wish it would come. 

Sometimes it’s choosing to let go of certain conveniences or comforts in order to do the right thing that lifts up someone else.  Sometimes it’s standing face to face with sorrow and suffering and choosing to trust God’s goodness to overcome what seems to have broken our hearts completely. 

And most of all, I think it’s just doing the right thing, trusting in God’s promises to us, throughout the course of a long season, or even our whole life, whether or not we see the answers while we live.

In the great faith chapter of the Bible – Hebrews 11 we read of people who went through all kinds of hardship:  And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised,  since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.  Hebrews 11:39-40

And so Faithful God, in this spring season when we see so many signs of growth and life around us, we pray with thanksgiving.  We also pray for faith and trust and courage to see our lives in the way Jesus saw His life.  Under Your direction, show us how You mean for us to be a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies, bearing much fruit.

We are created for so much more than the few decades of life that we have here on this earth at this time.  Continue to reshape and train our thinking so we keep eternity in mind.  It’s so easy to get caught up in making things as good as possible in the here and now and while You certainly want to bless us often, there are times when You ask for sacrifice and trust, and allowing something of our own personal life to be lost in order for something greater in the Kingdom of God to come forth. 

Lord, in the way that You intend, we pray today that our lives would be good seed in Your hand and that we would be filled with the best seed, which is the Word of God, so that everywhere we go that seed would be planted in the hearts of everyone we meet.  Help us today, we pray.  Amen