Seeds of Character...
If I'm ever a seed, I want to be a dandelion seed...So that I can be carried by the wind and be planted anywhere the wind carries me...Hehe...Or just because I happen to like dandelions.
What do you do with seeds? It's useless unless you plant it in 'good soil', water it, nurture it, guard it from being picked by birds, care for it, some may even talk to it and then?...Then, you wait.
You wait for 'nature' to take its course and at the sight of the slightest green nib sticking out, you get a sense of overwhelming joy as you behold a new life...from a dried, seemingly dead sead.
This is the miracle of life...something so small and so insignificant in our everyday life is one of the mightiest creation of God - able to grow a million times bigger than its original form; providing food, shelter and air...a SEED...
"For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations."
Truly, a farmer can only do so much. He can water and tend the ground...but it is ultimately God who gives life to every seed in this world...God has simple systems and formulas for life. A single simple non-beautiful brown seed is a great life bringer to many people on this earth...It is an amazing truth!!
In Isaiah 61 (one of my most most most favourite chapters in the bible..claim it! Claim it! Claim it!), verse 11, I think what Isaiah meant is that just as it is a certainty that when we plant seeds into the soil / garden, it is also a certainty God will become The certainty of righteousness and praise in our life...
Here is another verse that talks about "seed"...
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
To appreciate the complete meaning of the verse above, we need to look also at verses 23 and 25...The seed is actually Christ. Jesus' death produced the life for every single human being. He is the 'kernel of wheat' in verse 24, who fell to the ground and died. Jesus is the seed of man. Through him, we are planted into a firm foundation of life, righteousness and love. But Jesus' death was not to only benefit himself...it wasn't so he could receive some sort of enlightenment or be relieved in some way of his own pain in life, as is the motivation for many of us. But he did it solely for every man that lived, that was living and will live...it was totally selfless. And I think this is what it means, "the man who loves his life will lose it..." We're so busy with unneccessary things sometimes, thinking that is what brings us 'life' but ultimately, our focus should be the life that is to come...the life that we WILL live FOREVER in Heaven. We are not the 'kernel of wheat' that is called to fall to the ground...Jesus has already done that. Let us not be SO caught up with busy-ness or unneccessary focuses in life that we lose out on what is more important...to live, to love and to allow Jesus to shine through our lives. Is He shining through your life?
It's not about how much you can sacrifice but just simply, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" So be it, because we know that we are investing into eternity. Lord, we so often get so caught up with the 'life' that we forget that You are THE Life...Lead us. Then help us to take the step of faith to plant the seeds and to wait for it to grow...while we whole heartedly water and guard the seed...So that all that you want to develop will be developed in our lives; So that the promises WILL come to pass through obedience; So that through the tough times, our characters will be honed to shine Your grace and Your love; So that all that is impossible will become possible; So that every seed planted in me by You will become characters of strength, integrity, valour, development and encouragement...Let them not remain seeds. But that I may see these seeds in me die and a plant that will bring fruit develop from every one of those seeds...
An annoying thing happened today...I went to pass the computer repair person my installation codes for Windows XP and was told that there is a possibility that my hard drives were all empty. Windows may have accidentally deleted both hard drives when trying to install on the new hard drive. Me and my computer problems...I may need to find a life partner who is a whiz at fixing, reinstalling and maintaining PC's...at the rate that I am going with my computer track record. And I'm in IT! hah! But what really got under my skin was the sense that this was all part of having to "move on". I had backed-up all my past files (or whatever I could get hold of after many hard drives accidents) in one of the drives..it was almost like my many years in Melbourne put together. And it was all wiped out! And i had to fight the urge of feeling upset...over just files and photos. So what? They're just files and folders and pictures...Why so upset? Am I holding on too tightly to the things of the past? I think I can be like that sometimes...maybe because I think about them too much. But how can one stop thinking all together??? I've always been a thinker. But maybe what I need to be is just a TRUSTer.
Christ has grace without measure in himself, but he hath not retained it for himself. As the reservoir empties itself into the pipes, so hath Christ emptied out his grace for his people. "Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." He seems only to have in order to dispense to us. He stands like the fountain, always flowing, but only running in order to supply the empty pitchers and the thirsty lips which draw nigh unto it. Like a tree, he bears sweet fruit, not to hang on boughs, but to be gathered by those who need. Grace, whether its work be to pardon, to cleanse, to preserve, to strengthen, to enlighten, to quicken, or to restore, is ever to be had from him freely and without price; nor is there one form of the work of grace which he has not bestowed upon his people. As the blood of the body, though flowing from the heart, belongs equally to every member, so the influences of grace are the inheritance of every saint united to the Lamb; and herein there is a sweet communion between Christ and his Church, inasmuch as they both receive the same grace. Christ is the head upon which the oil is first poured; but the same oil runs to the very skirts of the garments, so that the meanest saint has an unction of the same costly moisture as that which fell upon the head. This is true communion when the sap of grace flows from the stem to the branch, and when it is perceived that the stem itself is sustained by the very nourishment which feeds the branch. As we day by day receive grace from Jesus, and more constantly recognize it as coming from him, we shall behold him in communion with us, and enjoy the felicity of communion with him. Let us make daily use of our riches, and ever repair to him as to our own Lord in covenant, taking from him the supply of all we need with as much boldness as men take money from their own purse.
...
Hey Sister
Thank u again for inspiring words.Everytime i read the wonderful notes i feel God is near and near.Keep up the wonderful words and i m sure who ever will be reading this will also be inspired by ur words.
Posted by: Cyril | March 18, 2006 07:56 PM