seeds

Planting Seeds

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“Planting seeds
inevitably
changes my
feelings
about
rain.” (Luci Shaw)

Growing up, I wasn’t overly fond of rain. It was something that inevitable spoiled my fun plans for the day. Rain meant staying inside and doing dull stuff (or at least what seemed dull to me at the time but would probably seem like a paradise now). I had to stay in and read or watch television or take a nap.

But these days, I find rain relaxing and soothing. To a point. I’m still not a fan of rain that lasts for several days with no sun in sight and only grey overcast clouds. But then again, if I were a farmer, I might think about rain a little different.

Think about the seed. It falls into the ground. It stinks into the mire. But instead of being set free from the mire, it gets buried further and further down into the earth, a kind of death. But then the rain comes, and from a seed dying and breaking open, new life is born.

Jesus said, “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love,“

Those parts of life that seem hard and cruel are the parts that lead to new life. The way God seems to press us into the earth instead of heeding our cry for relief leads to the seed cracking open, sprouting, and multiplying into a harvest. God knows what He’s doing.

Trust God in the dark and be thankful for the rain.

Two questions from Kairos

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I love Kairos. Tonight, we had another fabulous guest speaker, the one and only Pete Wilson, pastor of Crosspoint Church.

He spoke from Galatians 6:7-9 and asked two questions: 1) What am I sowing right now that I’m not going to want to reap? 2) Where am I weary of doing good?

The first question can be a scary one. You might think those little bad habits don’t matter, but you probably wouldn’t think much of those seeds you plant in a garden. But little seeds can turn into big plants, and those little habits can have greater consequences than you realize.

I heard once that you always reap what you sow, later than you sow, and more than you sow. Or something like that.

The second question probably hits home with most of us. I think all of us have felt weary in doing good. Or more accurately, we felt weary in doing good that seems to have little effect and which no one seems to notice. At some point, you’re tempted to say, “Why bother?”

So many feel irrelevent, like who they are and what they do don’t matter. They feel like the world wouldn’t miss them or even that the world would be better off without them.

But God knows. God sees. What you do in love is never ever in vain.

I love what Pete said about God not being mocked. It’s like if you had a child who had the choice between right and wrong, doing good or choosing the wrong. Even if he took the wrong path, he’d still be your child.

Even in those inevitable moments when you’re weak and turn the wrong way and make the wrong choice, you’re still a child of God. He still loves you.

I love what he said: you never graduate from the grace of God. You will never outgrow your need of it or come to depend upon it less. Ever.

So all in all, I’d say it was a good night. You can check out the podcast at http://kairosnashville.com/media/series/the-best-of-nashville.

A Conversation with David

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I was sitting outside of Starbucks minding my own business and being all unobtrusive when a guy walked up and started a conversation with me. Well, he did most of the talking.

He noticed my very green Bible and wondered what I was reading in it. He asked if I was in seminary. He proceeded to give his thoughts on God, a brief synopsis of his faith history, a sad tale of his previous two vehicles, and the weather report. Ok, I’m just kidding. About that last one.

If ever God presented me with a golden opportunity to share my faith, this was it.

I can’t say I passed with flying colors. I left out some stuff I should have said. A great deal. But I did invite him to Kairos. I did my best to listen. Truly listen. Not wait to respond or listen to correct his theology, but listening to try to feel what he was feeling.

After he left, I prayed for him. I’m still praying. I’m praying that he took away something from our conversation more than my words. I’m praying he caught something in my expression or my countenance that even I didn’t know was there. Maybe he saw Jesus in me and maybe he will be drawn to that.

I’m praying for more conversations, more opportunities where I can be bolder and more eloquent about what I believe. Maybe I can share my own faith story. All I know is that unless the Spirit is in it, nothing I say or do will matter– even if I start spouting off verses in Hebrew and Greek.

Most of all, I’m praying for my eyes to be open to more people like him and I will see these people not through my own narrow set of eyes, but through God’s widescreen vision.