The Seed

I love trees.  We are currently remodeling a house.  (Yes you can pray for us! Ha!)  Surrounding our fixer upper are beautiful trees.  Unfortunately three of these beauties had roots growing into the side of our basement wall.  Those roots presented a problem if we wanted our house to be standing in ten years.  Even though I knew the best choice for our future home was to cut down the trees, I tried for weeks to think of a creative plan to keep them.  But in the end all three came down.  I couldn’t watch.  Kentucky Boy had to remind me multiple times, “Either the trees come down or our house could cave in.” 

“Ok, Ok.  When you put it that way.”

I am still sad about the trees coming down; however, later that day as I climbed the stairs to what will be our daughters’ room my breath caught.  The view from their room is no longer branches and leaves but beautiful farmland and rolling hills, stretching as far as the eye can see. 

Then the Lord reminded me of a prayer I have prayed often.  “Lord, help me bear fruit.” 

Until a few months ago I thought bearing fruit was the end goal.  I never realized the fruit had another role.  The fruit protects.  The fruit protects the seeds, the next generation. 

Today I want you to meet the girl who made me a mommy.  My first born, aka The Artist, sees the world for what it could be.  She loves cardboard boxes and empty bottles because they can be houses and snow globes.  This girl has the sweetest smile, giggliest laugh, and kindest heart.  She was the happiest baby, the easiest toddler, and is becoming an extremely helpful young lady.  I enjoyed every stage of my pregnancy with her, even the end when she was two weeks overdue and still had to be evicted!  She does things on her own time table and sees the world as an adventure waiting to begin. 

The Artist is one of my seeds.  I have a drive within me to protect her, to guard her heart, mind, and soul from the world.  I have an obligation to teach her how valuable she is and how she was created with a purpose; to raise her in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  Because I don’t want to just protect her, I want her to be firmly rooted in truth, to grow up into an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.  My job in this life is not only to bear fruit, but to protect, plant, water and raise up the next generation of believers. 

I have more people to introduce today than just my Artist.  I want you to meet some seeds who were never given the opportunity to sprout.  Actually not one, not a few but fifty-four million.  Fifty-four million seeds we were supposed to protect and failed; failed miserably.  The world will never see the fruit these precious lives would have bore.

Why?

Because we didn’t lay down our lives and die.

I know some of you reading this might be thinking this is just another pro-life Christian bashing Planned Parenthood and our government, but you would be wrong.  I encourage you to keep reading because you might be surprised to see where I’m going.

How do seeds inside fruit grow into another tree, bush or plant?  The fruit is eaten or falls to the ground.  The seeds pass through an animal’s digestive tract (I know gross but part of nature) or the fruit falls to the ground and rots.  Either way the fruit “dies” in order for the seed to be planted.  If the fruit stayed on the tree forever, looking pretty, it would never produce another tree.  The fruit would serve no purpose beyond itself.  It would simply be “decoration” on the tree.

To be quite honest there are many social issues today, not just abortion, Christians get extremely upset and vocal about.  I often want to pose this question to those individuals, “What have you done to love those you are so adamant to protect?”  “What have you done to protect the seeds the Lord has given you?”

Stop blaming the President, Senators, Representatives, abortion clinics and abortion doctors.  The latter two wouldn’t exist without a market for their services. 

“What have you done dear Christian to love the girls and women going in for abortions?”

Have you given judgmental looks down your church pew?  Have you asked other people in your prayer group to pray for the pregnant teenager in church but never reached out to pray WITH her, to show her she is loved?

\When my Artist was born I worked for Alpha Alternative, a crisis pregnancy center in the town we lived.  I saw young girls, young women and older women always carrying the same burden….shame.  Feelings of desperation drove them to our center as they looked for any “fix” to their crisis.  In a majority of conversations with these women, the same fear surfaced.  The fear of what others would think.  The fear of judgment and ridicule.  Most of them, void of a revelation that no matter the circumstance every life is precious, including their own.

The sad reality is these women are not entirely to blame; nor is our society.  When was the last time Titus chapter two was actively lived out in your own life?  Where the older teach the younger to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, sound in faith, love and endurance?  What happened to living in such a way that our lives teach what is good and we train up those younger in the faith so no one will malign the word of God?

A few years ago Kentucky Boy and I took a parenting class.  One nugget of information I took away from the class was called teaching the opposite virtue.  If the child is struggling with lying, teach them about truth.  If the child is constantly stirring up strife among others, teach them how to be peacemakers.  Don’t simply create more rules to change the behavior and achieve momentary parenting success.  Train up their hearts.

We need to do the same with the world.  Instead of just signing petitions and voicing our opinions on social media, or even creating new laws, our lives should be teaching the opposite virtues.  Does our society lack the sanctity of life?  Our lives and words should be declaring every life is precious and created on purpose.  Does our society lack respect for authority?  We should show in our home, our church, our workplace, and our community that we are people under authority, obeying the laws and respecting all those enforcing them.  Does our society lack the value of marriage?  We should live lives of integrity, and purity, staying faithfully committed to the spouse of our youth.  Forgiving, preserving, and praying through trials instead of being so quick to divorce.  What would happen if every day we preferred others over ourselves?  What would happen if every day we shared our testimony with one person?  What would happen if we took the time to encourage a young person to live for the Lord in a day and age when it’s rare? What would happen if every day we would sacrifice even fifteen minutes of our time to do something for another?  Just like the trees coming down at our new house, sometimes we must be willing to die to ourselves so the next generation can see.

We all have a role to play.  If you are a Christian reading this then God commands you to bear fruit.  He tells the world they will know us by our fruit.  And every piece of fruit has a seed.  My question for you today is what are you doing to protect the seeds the Lord has entrusted to you?  Not only the biological seeds like my Artist, but the seeds from your ministries, your workplace, and church.  Take inventory today and water some seeds.  Because as one of my favorite pastors, Bill Johnson would say, “Inside every acorn is an oak tree.”

Not sure where to start?  Volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center near you and begin speaking life into hopeless women walking through the doors.  Get on your knees and ask God to show you people in your life who need discipled.  Ask Him to show you ways to be part of the solution, part of the wind blowing the breath of LIFE back into our society.  Because until the world is loved, until they are served, until they know they were uniquely designed and created with a purpose, nothing will change.  And honestly I don’t want it to.

WHAT?  Yes you read that right.

Because if the behavior of the world changes but their hearts remain the same we have just created modern day Pharisees.  Hypocrites. 

You see if we succeed.  If we get abortions to become illegal again without seeking to change the heart of those conducting and receiving abortions, we have only taught them to look good on the outside but remain broken on the inside.  Whether abortions are legal or illegal the brokenness will remain until they are LOVED!  Until they are taught their WORTH!  That is true for any social issue in our society today, not just abortions.

The fruit must slowly die to itself so the seeds inside can take root and grow up to be oaks of righteousness.  Lord, I want to bear fruit.  But more than that, I want to spend every breath in my body to protect the seeds You have given to me so when my time on earth is done they will be planted and firmly established, a planting of the Lord for the display of His Splendor.

Find a seed today and protect it by giving your life.