Feb. 21, 2015 SEED

I was in a store the other day and not only was all the Valentine candy replaced by Easter goodies, but packets of seeds, spring bulbs and even mulch have begun to take up space.

           

We are all ready to plant seeds as we wait longingly for warmer weather.  We calculate the number of days until the snow will be melted and we might begin to see the grass grow green.  Even those of us with a lack of a green thumb, wish that we could dig in the warm earth – but then we look at our windows and shiver amidst even the sunniest days.

           

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…. a time to plant and a time to pluck up what was planted.  (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

           

Now is not the time for planting.  Today is a fallow time when the earth is at rest, waiting for the change of the seasons.

           

As I reflect on today’s word – SEED – while there are things that we can do in terms of preparing the soil and providing water for its growth – there is just as much time waiting.  We wait until it is the right time to plant our seeds and then once they are planted, we wait for them to sprout and grow.

           

In a world that is focused on immediacy, to wait is a new four-letter world.  We don’t like to wait.  We see it as a waste of our precious time.

           

Lent can be a time of waiting as well.  It is less about what we can accomplish in these 40 days and more about….

            “those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31a)

May this SEED be a symbol of our call to wait, to trust and rely upon the Lord that our strength may be renewed for that time of planting and reaping.

Shared by Pastor Jen