Seed Sowers

In the garden here on the farm there are four rows of red potatoes growing.  Though they were planted a few days after the traditional potato planting day which is Valentine's Day, they have come up and are making a promise of more than the five pounds of seed potatoes put in the dirt.  Of course, there are a few blank spots in the rows.  Not every potato cutting is making potatoes.  There are always a few that never see the light of day.   

The important thing is to plant.  There can be no crop without the work of planting.  And as every one who plants knows, not every plant is going to produce fruit.  In the gospel of Luke, there is a Word known as the Parable of the Sower.  Jesus talked about a sower planting seed.  Some fell on the path to be trampled; some fell on the rock and withered; some fell among thorns and were choked; and, some fell on good soil, grew, and produced.  Both my potato patch and Jesus's parable tell us the same message.    

As those who seek to follow Jesus, our task is not growing or producing, but sowing the seed.  We are seed planters.  Sometimes we forget and assume responsibility for the harvest.  The harvest is not our responsibility.  The harvest belongs to the Spirit.  Our share in the work of the Kingdom is planting seed.  We plant seed through our service to the Christ; we plant seed in investing our lives in the lives of others; and we even plant seed through our praying.  Jesus described our role in the Kingdom business with those words, "A sower went out to sow his seed."  (Luke 8:5). Be a good and faithful sower.