Plant Your Seed

“Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of other-ignoring God!-harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7~Message)

Planting seeds of love is a figure of speech referring to the process of growing love and compassion in other’s lives. Wherever we go in life, we really are planting seeds in the lives of other people. We might be given a hundred opportunities in a single day to plant a seed of God’s love, but if we are not careful we might miss out if we don’t slow down and take time out of our busy day to plant at least one seed of God’s love. Our words are sort of like seeds; the harvest of tomorrow depends on the seeds we sow today…

“Sow righteousness for yourselves; reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and showers His righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12

Seeds come in many different sizes, and all seeds require a few basic things to grow; sunlight, nourishment, love, and water. With a little patience and hard work, what may seem like an empty plot can be filled with beauty and growth! We have probably all planted seeds with enthusiasm and hopefulness; anticipating what we can produce with our labor and careful attention. But what about planting seeds of love and encouragement in the lives of others? Jesus talks about how planting seeds will sometimes grow, or fall on stony ground and not sprout or take off at all. Every thought we have is a seed being planted, and if we do not tend to our “gardens”, it doesn’t mean that our plants will not grow, it means that the wrong plants will grow. We can either plant seeds that grow into beautiful flowers, or we can plant seeds that grow into weeds.

“The point is this; whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)

None of us may ever know what grows from the seeds we plant, but that should not discourage us from planting them. Some of the thoughts and actions we planted will come back to us days, months, or even years later. We should never judge our gardens by the harvest that we reap, but instead by the plants we sow. Sowing seeds of love will benefit both the individual and the recipient, and we should…

·         Speak kind words and build others up…

·         Show compassion for the pain and unhappiness of others…

·         Lend a helping hand to someone who is in need…

·         Be patient with others who are facing challenges in life…

·         See the good qualities in others rather than pointing out their faults…

·         Express our love to others with our words and actions

With every deed we are sowing a seed and no matter the color or the size, they can grow into the strongest plants! Every time we share words of love and kindness, we plant seeds in the hearts of the ones who hear us. And even though it may take years for those seeds to grow and develop, God encourages us to keep planting, and sharing His unconditional love!

 

 

Linking up this week with: