My posts usually grow from a seed of an idea.
Today
I had a seed of an idea and in more ways than one.
You've
probably noted I love my garden. I don’t always have the time to keep it looking
the way I’d like, but it’s a place I feel I can make a difference, a place where
I can be fruitful, where I can unwind and it’s also a place of inspiration for
me. I learn lots from my garden.
At
the end of each season, I often let a couple of plants go to seed so I have seeds
for next year. This morning I harvested a handful of pods from the last
straggly bean plants. Beans don’t like the cold but they soldiered on long
enough to produce some lovely plump, white, shiny seeds for next Spring.
That seed
of an idea emerged as I freed the little kernels of invisible life from their dry,
withered shells.
Having
had two grandsons arrive in the past year, it isn't any surprise that my idle thoughts often turn to the early stages of life. Lying in the palm of my hand, those
little white seeds reminded me once more of life beginnings.
I marvelled
as I tumbled the seeds backwards and forwards across my palm. They contain the
essence of life, and given the right opportunity and the right ingredients, they’ll
prove it. Inside each, is potential life - the potential for growth to maturity,
for production of pods, and in turn seeds. I find that quite awesome!
We
can learn from the simplest things.
This
morning, I was reminded again of something I've believed for a long time: that I
was made with all the necessary building blocks to carry out a life purposed even
before I arrived in this world.
I
don’t believe my birth was an accident or that my life is a series of accidents.
I believe I am here by design and there’s also a design for my life’s journey.
That’s pretty wonderful and pretty scary at the same time.
It’s
amazing to think I was ‘thought up’ by a creator, a whole lot more preferable
than the notion I was an accident! It’s also pretty amazing to think I was put
together with the gifts and abilities to equip me for a life of unique purpose.
Then there’s the scary bit…how do I find and how do I know, what that purpose
is?
For
the bean, it’s very simple. When the little seed goes into the ground, given
that it is a suitable environment for growth, it will do what it was designed
to do…grow.
We
humans are a little different. Our situation may be conducive for growth, it
may even be a perfect place to flourish, but sometimes that doesn't happen.
I think the difference is our ability for choice. For the most part, we get to
choose. Sometimes I choose well, other times I choose badly and when I choose
badly, I don’t flourish…sometimes I cease to even grow.
So, if there’s a purpose to my presence here on this planet, it seems logical there must be a plan too. Sadly, no one gave me the plan when I left the hospital with my Mum!
As
I grew older, along with being able to make choices, I discovered my Creator also
gave me some guidelines, as well as a 24 hour open-line to ask advice. I
appreciate the ‘Help Line’ more and more as the years roll by. As I get older
(and I hope wiser) I think I'm getting better at using that ‘Help Line’ earlier,
not waiting till things become way too difficult to handle. I still need to be
reminded to do that though. It’s pretty natural for me, and I suppose most
people, to be independent. Don’t get me wrong, independence is great but I also
think two heads are usually better than one, especially when one of them was
the designer of the universe! I also think that gives me a bit of an edge in decision
making!
If it is planted in a less than ideal place, a place it can’t grow, it will die. It has no alternative.
I am ever so grateful that if I find myself in a less than ideal situation, which is no rarity, unlike the bean seed, I have access to a 24 hour, seven days a week, twelve months of the year, ‘Help Line’ ... as well as a very old book to guide me on my way.
