Seeds of Potential

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

-Martin Luther

At the moment, our backyard garden boxes are messy and exposed. Dirt lies clumped with dead leaves and old grass clippings.

The bursts of golden flowers, traveling vines and vibrant pops of red are now only a memory of last summer.

But it took a serious amount of time before any flowers, vines, or produce emerged.

I remember when my shallow pots of seedlings outside turned into a salad buffet for deer and rabbits.

Or when I rushed to place plants outdoors and they froze and shriveled in a cold snap.

Or when my lack of daily attention caused my poor plants to become dried out, weed-choked, or bug-infested.

Or when I told myself after these experiences, “maybe I should just give up on gardening.”

But there’s something about seed, something about seeing what has the potential to grow and become fruitful.

And despite the messy, time-consuming, challenging, emotional roller-coaster of gardening, relationships, recovery, and life – we still long for the possibilities.

We realize there will be uncomfortable days, sure. But suffering? Is it really necessary?

It’s a question asked throughout time, and hauntingly so in Psalm 80 as the psalmist begs and pleads God in the midst of profound distress: “Rally! Return! Revive! Restore (us)!” Yet the very verses foreshadow the suffering God’s Son (Himself) will endure in order to truly save His people.

Is suffering necessary?

Suffering is the price of love. – Caryll Houselander, The Stations of the Cross. (1)

At that price, we may want to shop elsewhere, look for a bargain, or request a refund. Truly?    

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.  John 12:24

Now not only suffering, but death?

On some level, we know it’s true. It’s life, the cycle of life, and the nature of creation: If a plant has successfully set seed, its genes will survive into the future as the cycle begins again. Eventually, the longest-lived plant will die. This is the end…for that individual. But the legacy of death is life (just as a dead tree becomes a shelter to an abundance of other living organisms). The Life Cycle of a Plant: Seeds, Shoots and Roots: Woodland Trust

And leave it to Jesus to use the common stuff of life (trees, vines, bread, seed) to talk about life beyond death. Leave it to Jesus to use simple things to simply show us glimpses of Himself. But He takes seed further.

Again and again, Jesus has referred to Himself and to His divine life in us, as seed buried in the earth. (2)

We, as His seed, will experience times of nurture and flourishing. And we, as His seed, will ask “how long” we must endure suffering or time “in the dark.” And we, as His seed, will feel buried and alone in our lifetime, doubting our purpose or potential.

There are times when we experience no sweetness, no consolation, no visible sign of the presence and the growth of Christ in us; these above all other times are those in which Christ does in fact grow to His flowering in us. (3)

And we, as His seed, know that what appears to be the “end” is in fact the beginning, as we look to the example of our Vine, our Tree, our Cross:

(So) in Christ, we can do just what He did, remain quietly in the tomb, rest and be at peace, trusting God to awaken us in His own good time to a springtime of Christ, to a sudden quickening and flowering and new realization of Christ-life in us.” (4)

Because Christ’s mission was to enable us – His Seed – to carry Him on, and in, and through us, to the suffering world to give hope. But how are (we) seeds to carry on, to press on through the suffering?

On Holy Thursday, a priest suggests looking no further than the fourteen Stations of the Cross.    

“First, do not define yourselves by your suffering.” (We’re all seeds from the Seed.)       

"Second, do not compare your suffering with the suffering of others.” (All seeds have a journey.)

Next, he adds two things we can do along our path:

“First, accept love along the way. Next, give love along the way.”

Because… Compassion, the communion in suffering of those who love, is the suffering that redeems; it is Christ’s love in the world; it exists only because people love one another, and because it exists it begets more love. (5)

The stations of the cross are in fact the stages that we, as seed, will endure and can trust.

“In this world you will have trouble,” but Via Crucis, the way of the Cross, shows us that along the very path of suffering are those who will love us, help us, and encourage us. And by receiving and carrying this love, then pouring it out, we are continuing the Way, the Truth and the Life (cycle) as we remember to “fear not, for I (Jesus) have overcome the world!” John 16:33

Gardens. Relationships. Recovery. Life.

Though I can’t see it just yet, the soil in my outdoor garden boxes is being restored by decomposition and moisture. Beneath the surface, earthworms and microbes are renewing the soil in its time of rest. I can trust this process in my garden, just as we can in our hearts, minds and bodies.

And though I can’t yet taste the fresh salsas, pesto, or cucumber salads, I can choose to proceed in hope.  Hope lies in the form of multiple seed trays on my sunroom floor – seed-gifts I planted which were carefully selected by my father, extras from his own garden project.

And now? My greatest joy comes in the morning, as I witness delicate white and green shoots reaching and stretching upright, bending toward the sun…

The Stations of the Cross, Caryll Houselander, The Hart Library (1-5)