A HIDDEN-IN-DIRT KIND OF SEASON. Unless a seed falls….

It’s that time of the year in the mountains where seeds are buried in the soil.

People are in their gardens preparing the soil, planting seeds, awaiting the rain and hoping for growth. They are planting grain seeds like wheat and sorghum. Vegetable seeds like tomato, okra, eggplant and a variety of greens. Some are even starting mango, guava and papaya trees from seed they have saved.

Today with the children I sowed some spinach, carrot, zucchini, cucumber and herb seeds. Each seed was carefully hidden beneath the soil in hope that our family will have fresh food during the coming dry season. Looking at the garden now there is no evidence on the surface of what we hid beneath. I will have to wait to see tiny sprouts pop through the dirt.

In the mountains most people depend on their crops to feed their family. Their year revolves around dry and wet seasons and each year they need to harvest and store up enough food to feed themselves and to have seed for the next year.

For a variable amount of days, depending on what was planted, the seed lays unseen and buried, under the surface. Eagerly the sower waits to see evidence of germination and growth. He tries to ensure the seed is buried in fertile soil and hopes rain will come at the right time. But after the seed is sown, it is hidden. Only the gardener knows of its whereabouts and the potential below the soil.

I never ceased to be amazed at the miracle of a seed falling to the ground and producing a crop.

As I have watched people work so hard in their gardens this wet season, and planted some things myself, I have been thinking over Jesus’ different parables about seeds, crops, sowing and harvesting. Seeds are represented as the word of God, the gospel of the kingdom or as the sons of the kingdom. His word is the seed that needs to find the fertile soil in our heart. Jesus is the Word, the seed that fell to the ground. Jesus says the gospel of the Kingdom is like the tiniest seed sown that becomes a large tree, growing taller than other crops around it. He spoke of the sons of the kingdom sown into the world amongst weeds. All these parables infer seed is being something sown in darkness before producing life.

This last 8 months for our family has been in many ways a beneath-the-soil kind of a season. It has felt like we have been sown into this mountain dirt and hidden in the soil of this place and culture. All the while, trusting our wise and good Gardener knows where we are planted, and that He will bring life and fruit from our days here.

Beneath the soil we have been building a home, starting new friendships, learning more about language and culture. I think that the daily grind and repetitive tasks have been God’s vehicle to remove more of the perishable in our lives so that what is imperishable will remain. May it be the seed of His word and kingdom within us that bears fruit.

Our Lord Jesus taught us about what happens to a seed in the dirt before germination in chapter John 12 verse 24:

‘…Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it produces much fruit.’

He compares himself to the seed that falls to the ground, dies and germinates to produce a harvest in the nations. I long for sprouts of life from the living and enduring seed sown within us to be seen popping up through the dirt surrounding our daily lives here.

I wonder, amidst the current Covid pandemic, how many others are also in a beneath-the-soil, hidden-in-dirt, kind of a season. A time of waiting. A time of trusting. Could it be that during this time of hiddenness God is stripping back some perishable things in us all so that the eternal seed within will germinate and produce a crop?

By faith we trust that the seed that our Father has planted in our hearts will endure. He is the wise gardener and is able to bring growth and life even from things that are dead. Let us never forget.

…After I finished writing this last night and lay in bed reflecting on the season, the gentle voice within spoke, but I am seeing some sprouts come up. The season is changing. Speak of this too.

And my heart was encouraged. These words were His water to the tiny seedlings of life that are starting to pop up after this beneath-the-soil season of life here. Perhaps you need to hear similar words of encouragement to your heart today. May we be patient and live lives that produce fruit with the eternal seed within.

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Blessings,
Hope