Unplanted seeds.

Update: After a long day yesterday, Tracie is back from her illness. Talk about a swift and complicated flu bug! We're grateful for medicines that quell nausea and for bland foods that don't trigger violent intestional responses. Anyway, while Tracie slept, I was out digging about in the garden. The ground really wasn't dry enough to work but why should that deter me? Two things became apparent as I spaded the soil.

1. Everytime I would leave to go get another gardening implement, upon returning I would be welcomed by a grateful robin who was enjoying the rich new supply of earthworms.

2. It really is a miracle that I can place a chopped up potato into the ground, add some fertilizer, and in a few months harvest new potatos. Actually, the seeds I sewed yesterday look nothing like carrots, spinach, or a fully developed onion. The wonders of God's creative order!

Got me to thinking about the seeds you and I plant in a normal day. We are commissioned to be salt and light to the people in our part of the world. Our words and actions are used of God to engage folks and we then build a relationship with the same. At the end of a day, we might consider our efforts to have been in vain. We lament missed opportunities or flawed attempts to connect. We might be deceiving ourselves. The witness of God's love and grace we share might seem anemic. It might not appear to hit the mark, but much like the shriveled seeds in the picture, our effort does not go in vain. God can use us at whatever level of engagement we bring to the table.

The other part of our relational evangelism is found in those who see our compassion and genuineness and hear our words of hope. A person who has lived in a vacuum of truth and love becomes increasingly thirsty and hungry. They may scurry away at first, but much like the hungry robins, they venture back toward the source of life. God wants every person to come to faith in His Son and has called us to make that happen. What kind of seeds are you sewing today that would allow another to experience God's love and grace? God forbid your seeds would cause violent illness that squelches a person's pursuit for relationship with the God who created them, loves them, and wants to redeem them. Have a great day and plant seeds of hope!