The following quote gave me reason to pause last week (for 2 reasons -- one is expounded below the other is because I had no idea who she was so I had to do some research to figure it out):
"It is a greater act of faith to plant a bulb than to plant a tree." ~ Clare Leighton
I immediately thought about how we all want to harvest but few want to plant seeds. I think much of this is pride -- we all want the joy of leading someone through the prayer of salvation and we celebrate that. But we rarely, if ever, rejoice in seed-planting. And yet I think it takes more faith to plant a seed than reap the harvest because you frequently never see the results of those seeds. And yet nothing is farther from scripture. The Apostle Paul put it this way in I Corinthians 3:5-8 (NIV):
"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." (emphasis mine)
The frightening thing is that we're always planting seeds (whether or not we want to), particularly with those to whom we've professed our faith. The questions aren't "where can I plant a seed" and "when can I plant a seed" but rather what seeds am I planting at any given time"? Plant, my friends, plant. Let God take care of the harvest and give him glory for whatever part you get to play.
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