A TRUE SEED

My husband's uncle was reared Amish! He loved to carry his heritage into his garden to the back and side of their home.

[Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' "'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"] Matthew: 24-30 (NIV)

Uncle Dan was proud of the variety and robust growth of the vegetables in his little patch. Raised in an Amish family, his engineering genius was trapped inside homemade dark blue trousers and shirt, and a large wide-brimmed black hat. As a young man, he tested out of the high school he never got to attend and enrolled in classes at nearby Notre Dame. After a few weeks, he was asked to guest-lecture in his engineering class, since he was vastly more well read in the topic than his professor. After marriage and a family came along, daily weeding and watering his fresh green sprouts connected his life in the world with his Amish roots.

It so happened that Dan also had creative nephews, both in the family and in-laws, who loved to play tricks on him. His overreacting when the spoof was detected was legend. One night, several of the more mischievous guys sneaked into his freshly turned vegetable bed and drove non-bearing corn seeds into the ground. The seeds sprouted and shot up above the ones Dan had planted himself. He was so proud! He had the tallest fresh corn stocks in the county. They grew toward the blue sky, eight feet above the earth. "I’ll bet the ears will be huge!" he bragged.

When the corn was nearing harvest, he discovered that there was not a single ear to be gathered. In retaliation, Dan "planted" political stickers from the opposing party on the back window of the rascals’ cars.

Dan couldn’t harvest corn from stalks that only looked good. They were only an empty promise of food for the family. The tall beauties were no more than garden weeds. Like the Lord’s work among us, at harvest time they were cut down and thrown into the burn pile. Let us make sure that our "face of the Christian Church" is more than a picture of the proper things to do. Let us be true seeds that bring food for our souls and for the souls of those around us. Let us pray:

"Father of the seed and the Harvest, I bow before your holy name and the name of your son, Jesus Christ. May your kingdom come to the earth in the time pleasing to you. While I wait on you, Father, take my faith and make it a true seed for your Glory, that I may provide food for the lives of others. I do not need to know whom I touch, so that I cannot brag. But, use me Lord in the lives of others, that your joy and peace may come to their heart. Forgive me when I turn inward and brag about what I have done. Only your work through me is part of the true stalk, and those seeds I surrender to you. In the name of and by the power of Jesus your son, I pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
Go to www.dorisgainesrapp.com for book signing events.

Promote Yourself - a pep talk on self-promotion. To download the eBook go to www.bn.com and www.amazon.com.
Also, join the conversation at www.promoteyourself-permitsuccess.blogspot.comIt will be available in paperback soon at www.dorisgainesrapp.com and www.directbuybooks.com./kjv/psalms/118.htm