Seeds Of Faith

Seeds of Faith

As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.

Genesis 8:22

Imagine the excitement in the air as rays of spring sunlight stretch over frozen fields and begin to thaw them. Children spend more time outside, even if the wind is cold. Mothers plan their gardens. Farmers, eager for the season ahead, stride through the fields and check the soil. Seeds are still in paper packages, but soon they will be in the ground, taking root and sprouting. Even the animals, eager to nibble on the first fresh green shoots, grow impatient in their stalls after eating hay and feed all winter.

Expectations are good. Farmers would not plant their fields, or their wives a garden, without having expectations of the harvest to come. The sun will shine whether or not the seeds are planted, but sowing the seeds is an exercise in faith. Those who plant, trust that the seeds will take root and grow.

Have you ever considered how this applies to the spiritual seeds we plant? Have you looked at the barren soil in the hearts of the people around you and pictured the spiritual harvest that is possible?

God doesn’t ask us to force growth. What He requires is for us to plant the seed of His Word: “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it” (Isaiah 55:11).

I mentor teenage mothers. Sometimes months and months go by, and I don’t feel as if I see any fruit—any positive changes—in their lives. But producing those changes isn’t my job. It’s God’s job. My job is simply to plant the seed. God will take care of the results, just as He does for the farmer. We can trust Him in that.

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word within me. I’m so glad that I simply need to spread the seeds of Your Word and the rest is up to You. Show me those who need words of hope today. And help me to be faithful in planting seeds in their lives.