“As long as the earth exists, seedtime and harvest, cold and hot, summer and autumn, day and night will not cease.” Genesis 8:22 (CEB)
The day the first seed catalog of the year arrived in the mail, it was twenty below zero with a biting wind chill. My first thought was, That’s just cruel.
Pulling my wool sweater tighter around me, I stared out at the snow-covered ground, the garden stiff and lifeless. The seed catalog cover made me sigh. It would be many months before I’d see color like that in my garden. The season of hibernation, not the season of growth. Too many gray days made me resistant to the joy-potential the seed catalog held. “Plant a future seed.”
The idea came as soft as a summer breeze. Instead of mourning the contrast between my current circumstances and what the catalog promised, I could plant a virtual seed. I spent the next hour plotting what new flowers I’d add to my garden in the spring. What would my vegetable raised beds hold? A new variety of an old favorite? Should I try cabbages again and find a more efficient way to fight off the cabbage-loving chipmunks?
My view out the window showed the same bitter, stark, cold whiteness. The view in my heart sported all kinds of anticipated color, dewy, sun-drenched magenta blossoms and fragrant herbs.
Jesus knew we’d be prone to getting mentally stuck in our current circumstances without a nudge from Him to think ahead to the joys that lie before us. The spring at the end of the winter. The lush garden of answers to replace our barren seasons. The heaven that awaits. Winter to spring. Illness to health. Stress to peace. Broken to mended. It might be time for me to plant a few more seeds.
Faith Step: Have you planted seeds, mapped out a garden, envisioned what it will be like when this season of life passes? When the medical crisis abates? When the prodigal comes home? When you make it through the financial upheaval? Plant a faith seed today.
