“God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 (GNT)
I love seeds–those little packets of potential, containing everything you need to make a whole new plant. I’ve spent many hours planting seeds, whether it was green beans and carrots, tomatoes or parsnips…Large seeds like pumpkin seeds or small ones like lettuce. The largest seed I ever planted was a coconut. The tiniest I ever saw were the seeds for Tuberous Begonias. These house plants can grow to fill a ten gallon pot and have flowers of ruffled rose-like petals. But the seeds they grow from look like dust. So much beauty from something so small.
There are many types of seeds, many ways seeds travel around the world. Everyone who grew up near a lawn has seen fluffy white dandelion seed heads, a perfect sphere of seeds, each with its own perfect little parasol for floating on a breeze. There are sticky burrs, seeds of the burdock plant which have barbs for catching on a passing animal or your pants leg to travel to a different place. Maple tree seeds are called “keys” and have wings for twirling. Coconuts have a thick husk which allows them to float for miles. Seeds can be carried by birds, blown on the wind, washed into streams and even excreted by animals.
Flying, drifting, falling, sticking, or floating, seeds have many different ways to travel in the world. People are made to be like that too. God created each of us unique and special, with a specific set of gifts and talents. A person with the gift of building things may well struggle to write a poem. A dancer might not be able to cook a decent meal. A nurse might find herself struck speechless at the thought of addressing a large crowd. We have to travel in the world according to the way God made us. A burdock seed, designed for “stickiness” cannot “fly”. A Mangrove seed, designed to spear into the wet ground of the seashore, cannot be carried by a bird and grow in a desert.
We are all different. Made different to do different things in the world for God. I am not the same as my sisters who are both pastors, so we don’t do things the same way. They preach and teach and love on people. I write essays and tell stories of God. Yet we all three are doing our best for God to make this world more closely resemble God’s Kingdom.
God gives us each a job to do—share the love of Jesus; and because God loves us so much, God gave us each a unique way to do the job. Each of us has a different approach to life built into us. God designed each of us to live fully, abundantly, uniquely. Just as there are lots of different ways that seeds are spread in the natural world, just so God created us—God’s people—with lots of different ways to spread the love of Jesus.
Our job is to make the Kingdom of God a reality. That means we LOVE–everyone, everywhere–as Jesus did. We each have a specific way to do that; that’s how we’re made. So, don’t worry about the details; don’t worry about getting it wrong. Love is never wrong. Go to God with an open heart and ask for help. Go into the world and do your best. Be willing to try and willing to fail. Be like a seed, float or fly or stick or drift–however God made you, you were made to love. So get out there, live your life of good deeds that God created you for.
Go love.
The View from Mt. Hope 