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Every spring, I look forward to starting seeds for the future plants that will call my garden home. Whether I am trying to grow tomatoes, lettuce, corn, or even squash, there’s something about sowing my seeds and watching them germinate into tiny little plants that gets me excited.
One of the things that I’ve learned since I started gardening is that not all seeds are easy to sow. I wish sowing seeds was as simple as throwing them into the soil, but alas, it isn’t. There are some seeds that require extremely long periods of time in freezing temperatures before they will germinate; and then there are some seeds that need to be burnt (scarified) before they will germinate. And as luck would have it, many of the most beautiful flower varieties fall into one of these categories.
If you’re like me, it’s probably hard for you to accept this fact at face value. Why would God design plants this way? Wouldn’t it be easier for plants to produce seeds that could germinate whenever they pleased? To me, that seems like the obvious option; but in God’s eyes, it must be a bad idea.
The more I thought about the idea of waiting to germinate at just the right time, the more I realized that each seed is perfectly designed to thrive in it’s environment. Plants that produce seeds that need to be stratified—go through long periods of freezing temperatures—before they will germinate almost always have their origins in a region of the world that has long winters; and the plants that produce seeds that need to be scarified are native to areas that have historically had more wildfires than you could probably count. To keep it simple: their unstable, seemingly hostile environment, is used to their advantage.
I can’t help but think that God does the same thing for us. He knows that the world around us is often cold, and full of destruction. He gave our world seasons for a reason. He also knows that germinating at the wrong time could be even more destructive than not germinating at all. Germinating at the wrong time because we thought it was right can cause death; germinating late allows us to still live out our God given purpose
There are times that are so dark that it seems like the sun will never rise again, yet it always does. There are times that are so cold that they leave us willing to do anything to warm our own spirits, yet the opportunity for warmth and welcoming is aways there. There are times where it seems like everything that is beautiful around us is burning down, yet something beautiful always emerges out of the ashes.
We may not know how long the seasons in our life will be, but we can always rest assured that just like the flowers that blanket the open fields and hillsides in the spring, the future is always a hopeful one.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NLT