Farmer Dave

Seeds.
Yes, seeds. This simple little product that carries the food for growth in the shell. I have long been fascinated by seeds.
I can remember pulling up the garden in Arcadia as a child, checking out the pea pods, stalks of corn and other seed bearing products. I have to say I was really good at pulling the seeds then, not so sure I did anything to help plant the beautiful nutrient bearers. I think I mostly left that to Mom and Dad.
I also remember looking at seeds in some various forms, like the seeds we put in clear cups and watched sprout and grow. That was awesome! The mustard seed, so small and capable of producing such a great plant continues to amaze me. I love pumpkin seeds. I so look forward to Halloween time and the chance to pull all the sticky seeds from the center of that gourd, cook them up in the oven, salt them with various good seasonings, and munch away.
And this morning I am reminded of my call to ministry. The scripture passage for the Lectionary today is Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. The sower goes into the field and the seeds are scattered across so many varieties of soil, the rocky soil, the shallow soil and the good soil. The tendency is to read this passage and relate to the soil, as either rocky, shallow or good. That is all well and good, but as I do with so many parables and stories of scripture I find myself looking at the other parts of the story and thinking about what it is like to be the other characters, like the sower and the seeds themselves. I said seeds remind me of my call, because most often I think of myself as the sower in this story. I plant seeds of faith, strewing the seeds across all kinds of soil, trusting that some of them will make it in any location (think about the seeds you have seen take hold in the craggy rocks you've seen out in the mountains, or the seeds that may have withered in the shallow soil only to come back in the cool of the next shift of weather).
The challenge I have is to remember to care for the soil and the seeds after the sowing, and to be the seeds and the soil at the same time as planting other seeds (I told you all I was a walking paradox - this just shows the first little bits).
May you find some growth of your own in faith today and throughout the week.
Blessings,
David