GROW WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

Environment and circumstances can determine how you turn out as a person. The way you were raised has a profound effect on your character. But, have you ever noticed that circumstances can break one person, but make another person stronger? Pressure can crush rocks, or it can make a diamond; it is up to you to decide the outcome.

I recently planted some Basil seeds in a pot, and I placed it beside my kitchen sink. The directions told me to soak the peat pod in water and then unwrap it and crumble the peat into the container. There was a wick that went in the bottom on the pot and extended down into a water reservoir. This wick ensured that the plant always had the correct amount of water. A small pack of seeds came with the kit, and the instructions said to plant six seeds out of the package.

After all of the seeds were planted, I sat the little pot on the sink and waited patiently to start seeing sprouts. After several days, I finally saw the start of one little sprout. I was excited, and I couldn’t wait to see the rest of the seeds sprouting. After about four days, I gave up hope of any more of the seeds germinating. The one little plant was growing nicely, but all of the others failed to produce.

I kept thinking about the parable that Jesus told about a farmer sowing seeds. Birds came and ate some of the seeds, some of the seeds had shallow roots and soon withered away, and some seeds fell upon good soil and produced a bountiful harvest.

Matthew 13:1-9

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

All of that made sense to me, but what about seeds who were all planted in good soil? Six seeds had the same soil, the same amount of water, and the same amount of sunshine. They all came from the same pack of seeds, so they all had the same opportunity to grow and flourish. The environment and circumstances were exactly the same, so why were the results different?

Last year I had several gorgeous Coleus plants on my back porch, but this year I only had ferns. However, just this month, I noticed a single Coleus plant had sprung up in a crack between my patio and the wall that surrounds it. I knew that the seed had to be from one of the plants that I had last year and that even though it had only found a small amount of soil, it had somehow survived. I carefully dug the plant out from the crack and transplanted it into a new pot that is also beside my kitchen sink.

Both the Basil and the Coleus plant have survived where other seeds have perished. The basil seeds were coddled and given every opportunity to grow, yet only one lived. The Coleus plant had challenging circumstances. The Coleus wasn’t even planted, and the wind blew it around. It somehow landed in a tiny bit of soil and had to overcome the intense heat from the summer sun. It also had to survive when we pressured washed the patio and the torrential rains that came this summer. The odds were against this seed, yet it somehow survived and flourished.

You might have had circumstances in your life that have made it hard on you. Health issues, disabilities, financial, or abandonment issues might have you feeling like you aren’t strong enough to ever overcome your circumstances. I am too old; I am not eloquent, I am slow of speech. Does any of that sound familiar?

Exodus 4:10

¹⁰ Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” 

I can sympathize with Moses. There are more times than not when I feel horribly unqualified to do my Sunday posts. I am not a Bible Scholar, I have never studied in Sematary School, I am not a writer, and I am a sinner.

Exodus 4:11-13

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

The Lord doesn’t look at your circumstances. He doesn’t care if you’ve fallen on good or rocky soil; He can still use you. Your environment and circumstances don’t define you; the Lord does. You just have to decide to let the Lord use you.

Grow where you are planted, no matter the circumstance!!!

 

To God Goes The Glory!

Have a Blessed Day!