Go plant some seeds

 From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.  (Aeschylus)

My seniors remind me always that the work of Christian ministry is a long-term process, ‘you may not see its result immediately but you can be sure that God in His time will continue to grow the seeds that you had been planted in their life into fruition, no matter how small it maybe’, they assured me. What a wonderful advice!

I don’t care who you are and what you do; either you’re a president or CEO of multi-billion ringgit company or just working as a cleaner, sweeping rubbish by the road side of Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan: The most important thing we can do with our lives is to understand that we have the potential to plant a positive seeds of hope, love, encouragement, and faith in the lives of others.

I n a book title, Book of Knowledge: A guide to everything you have ever wanted to know, explains briefly on how most of the plants grow. (I brought it because there are lots of interesting facts in it and I don’t want to bluff you.) The process of grows from seed into a plant is called Germination. Example, bean seed;

1.      The seed lies dormant until conditions are right.

2.      The seed sends a root down and shoot up.

3.      The shoot bursts into the air and grows cotyledons (seed leaves)

4.      The stem and roots grow longer, and the plant soon begins to grow new leaves.

Plant a positive seeds in the lives others is a very noble deeds you could ever done with your life. It creates legacy. Through your words and your example, you can encourage others to stay close to God and bring hope to the hopeless. When you plant a seeds of encouragement in others, the process of ‘germination’ starts to take place. In a bean seed the root is the first part to appear and grows downwards, and then only later, the shoot appears and grows upwards. When they believe in themselves and started to see that with God nothing is impossible which an inward transformation look place, only then they will start to perform outwardly better in their life and be a person who they are created to be. It's an inside-out process.

I would like to tell a story or rather a legend about one African man who wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. He was a 16 years old young man who lived in Ghana. He came from a very poor village. As a teen, he left home in search of riches and wealth to bring back to his village. He eventually ended up working on a cocoa plantation. After 7 years, he returned to the village. 

Someone asked him,

‘What do you have to show for 7 years of being away? What did you bring us? Where are the riches?”

The young man responded by reaching into his pocket and pulling out 3 tiny seeds.

“Is this all you have to show? 3 tiny seeds?” someone asked.

Without speaking a word, he turned, went to the family hut, and planted those 3 tiny seeds nearby. From those seeds grew the first cocoa plant to be cultivated in his nation. And the second and the third as well. Today, cocoa is one of the primary crops in Ghana.

Go plant a positive seeds of hope, love, encouragement, and faith in the lives of others. Most importantly, go plant the Word of God in the lives of others. Go plant it. Keep water it. Don't worry about the result it will produce. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:6,

"I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow." [I paraphrase it this way: You planted the seed in others hearts, and keep watered it, but let God made it grow.]