More on Seeds
I can’t begin to count the times in counseling over the years I’ve explained how important it is to know what’s going on in our thinking. Seeds, can be planted from words spoken to us, or something we read, or something we hear. There are also seeds from our childhood that we sometimes aren’t even aware are producing a harvest in our lives right now. If we aren’t careful negative things will worm their way into our thinking and before we know it we’re responding to those things, sometimes without even knowing we are.
I’ve had many personal experiences with this but one in particular many years ago was so clear in its effect. I was cleaning bathrooms one day, oh the joy, especially when you have two teenage boys. I was giving the boys bathroom a good scrubbing when the phone rang. I took the plastic gloves off quickly and answered the phone. It was a dear friend, who was a part of my every day life. She began to tell me something that wasn’t a good report. After finishing the conversation I went back to cleaning the bathroom with little to no thought to the conversation. As I started to clean the toilet I realized that I was scrubbing that thing with way too much fury.
I finished up with all the bathrooms but throughout the day I found myself angry, frustrated and hurt. I knew enough to know something was up, so I stopped and prayed, “Lord, what’s up with me?” Immediately I was reminded of the earlier phone call. The news that was shared earlier had changed my mood completely. A negative seed had been planted in my thinking and I hadn’t dealt with it, by kicked it out or giving it to the Lord. So instead, it began to produce fruit in my life quickly. The fruit being grumpiness.
We are personally responsible for what we do with seeds or words that we hear. As I sat with the Lord and prayed that He would take care of the situation and really released it to Him— I could feel the heaviness lift. Every day we hear things that can cause us stress, grief, anger, rejection, fear, etc. but if we are planting the Seed of the Word of God, we will know what to do with those things. The Bible is not a rule book it’s an answer book for us as God’s kids to live by. However, if we aren’t planting the seeds of the word of God in our hearts, by reading it, studying it, and hearing good messages, we will not know how to deal with garbage as it comes.
In Mark 4, the story of the parable of the sower and the seed contains the words “hear” or “listen” many times, which shows us how important words can be. But, the one that speak the loudest to me today is Mark 4:24, where Jesus says “Take heed what you hear.” My friend meant no harm in what she told me, but I should have quickly submitted to the Lord what was said. Sometimes what seems like an innocent conversation can be poison to the crop we want to grow in our lives. We’re told in Proverbs 4:23, “ Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
Picture with me a pot with potting soil in it, and you get to decide exactly what you want planted. That’s an awesome thing to be able to decide but we have to be careful, because if we want joy, we can’t plant fear. We can’t plant poison ivy and expect to get roses. I know we all want to produce faith and good things in our lives. That always starts with what we’re planting.
