Being a Seed Planter

I am a stinky gardener. I wish I could say that our family gardens proficiently and that every vegetable we eat is grown in our own garden, but I can’t. Our family has attempted many gardens over the years. We have tried gardens in our yard, in the field, next to our barn, in raised beds and in pots and yet…nothing. A few years ago I decided to be the picturesque daughter and garden myself. That was the year we plowed a plot next to the barn. Mom and I shopped for plants, we fertilized it with our own special farm fertilizer that we manufacture ourselves here on location =), I de-rocked the plot and I planted my plants. I was very adventurous and I had quite a variety. 2-3 different varieties of tomatoes, yellow and red watermelon, zucchini, yellow squash, 2 kinds of cucumbers, peppers, and cantaloupe. After planting in May, I had my wisdom teeth removed and only a week later left for Indiana to serve at a young women’s conference. By the time I got back into the swing of gardening, wonderful little creatures called squash bugs had taken over and eaten my garden. Sadness. =(

I am so thankful the Lord doesn’t base my eternal “gardening” on my vegetable gardening.

Last summer, I met a young lady, who is very special to my heart, named “Mary”. I had gone to a week-long historical girls camp kinda thing. This young lady and I were roommates along with three other girls (they were large rooms). The second morning, she and I were downstairs and after setting the table for breakfast, we ended up on a conversation of spiritual things prompted by the prayer books sitting on the side table. She shared she was a gothic atheist. I began to prompt her to share more of her beliefs and why she didn’t think there was a God. She closed the conversation saying it was too early for religious conversations.

Later in the day, I asked if we could reopen the discussion to which she agreed. I began to ask questions to and shared the truth and the evidence that there was a God who created, loved, and died for her. As we progressed in the visit, her eyes were down and she was crying. Out of the blue, I said: “You are so beautiful.” She sat up, crying harder, and said she didn’t receive compliments very often. Now I was crying! The conversation was over, we hugged and I told her I loved her, but her “door” was closed. We finished off the week and went our separate ways.

The other girls put together a group chat and so I was able to keep up with “Mary” via the group chat. I wrote her letter and received no reply. In March, I wrote another letter, this time I did receive a response, on the group chat. She said she didn’t want my letters, she didn’t appreciate them or ever had.

So, that door was closed. Personal communication was cut to nothing and I had been hurt, but through all of that, my love for “Mary” only grew. She became a very important part of my prayer life. I envisioned her finding Christ and allowing me to help her begin a new life with Christ. I cried imagining it. The joy of a new babe in Christ. 

Then one day, the Lord taught me something, by asking a hard question of me.

Would I be content to be a seed planter?

That question took some wrestling on my part.

Ohhhhh……ummmmm……wow, Lord, that’s not really what I had in mind. I mean, I don’t mind working and praying for others, but I would really like to see the results of those prayers, the outcome of my work.

But that is not always what our Lord has in mind. Sometimes He asks us to keep on praying, to keep on working, to keep on travailing, without seeing the results of that work sometimes ever.

That isn’t easy. I at least like to see the picture of my dessert before I begin making it just so I have an idea of what I am aiming toward, I have a picture of what the result will be through my labors.

That isn’t how our Lord works. He says, “You plant the seeds that I direct, I will bring in the harvest.” I love the verse in 1 Corinthians:

“ I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6

We have not been called to be harvesters, we are called to be seed planters and sometimes we don’t even get to see the fruit of our labors till eternity.

So, I keep praying for “Mary”. I haven’t given up on her and never will. I love her, but she has a Heavenly Father who loves her even more. I am her seed planter.

Don’t become discouraged being a seed planter.

Without a seed, there is no harvest.

Plant on!