Spreading Seeds

Over the past six weeks I’ve been enjoying an awesome Bible study / book study, with several moms. We have been going through the book “Humility” ‘True Greatness’ by C.J. Mahaney. A huge part of humility is what is within our heart, and how we express it. Our heart eventually comes out of our mouths. Our tongues can be destructive (enough to tear down our own homes, tear down people, or even tear down a ministry)…. Or it can be as powerful (and positive) to build up great leaders, build up excellent children, and build a mighty kingdom.

What goes in our ears can penetrate our mind, and affect our heart. God asks that if you encounter any negative comments made by anyone, about anyone, that they will be addressed with positive and uplifting responses. We can breathe LIFE into a person with our words…. Or our poison tongues can destroy our homes, our children, or lives. God is quite clear in this:

“Let no corrupting talk come out of our mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” ~ Ephesians 4:29

Notice how comprehensively this command applies to our speech: “Let no… but only… There’s a certain kind of speech that’s never to come from our mouths, and another kind that should be everything we say. Negative talk tears down, positive talk builds up.

As followers of Jesus, as mothers, as wives, we have to be very careful what we allow our ears to hear, and what we allow our mouths to repeat. We need to ask ourselves… What “seeds” will we nurture? Will we nurture negative, poisonous seeds?? Or, will we stop them, and replant them with new uplifting and positive seeds?? Noxious, nasty “weeds” of division can occur within a family, a group, or a team, if we are not careful to pluck them out before they spread. Unless something is positive, and uplifting, and/or encouraging, it should never leave our lips. If someone speaks a negative word about anyone, will we allow that negative seed to flourish?? Will we spread the poison?..... Or will we squash the negative, hurtful, seeds and replant new uplifting seeds? God asks us all to examine ourselves….. What seeds are you planting? What seeds are you nurturing? Will you be a faithful planter, one to nurture, or one to re-plant positive seeds?

A prayer of confession (I’m sure most of us can confess to)…. I have not always squashed negative seeds when I’ve heard them, and I have not always planted positive ones…. With God’s loving forgiveness and mercy He is still working on me, and I’m confident that “He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6)……. I’m thankful that HIS Grace and forgiveness is sufficient, as we move forward in pursuit of His will and LOVE in our lives.

We are all human….. and just as the “little children” (of God) it’s the positive reinforcement that will always go much further in achieving desired results. Blessings always come from positive words. Let’s remember God’s word in Ephesians 4:29 and only allow GOOD to come out of our mouths, for building up, so that it may give grace to those who hear. May our words and our PRAYERS be the same.

We Wait in Faith

Sometimes when we take our hands off a situation, and simply allow God to do His thing…. we can see results immeasurable in comparison to what we could have accomplished on our own. God wants only what’s best, for those who He has called unto Himself, for those who believe.

Sometimes when we get involved and try to “fix” things, or try to “help” things along, by our own strength, we simply get in the way. God knows exactly what it’s going to take for a situation to turn out according to his perfect plan. Sometime we don’t understand, when we don’t see the results we were hoping for. Sometimes we can’t see the beauty in something while we are so busy trying to make something happen by our own power.

God sees the big picture…. He sees the end result, and it’s more beautiful than we can ever imagine. We could learn something from the child gardener. When we look at the beautiful picture on the package of flower seeds, we can see what the “end result” is going to be. We see these tiny seeds that look like nothing…. How can these tiny little things produce something so beautiful as what’s shown on the picture? But by “faith” we plant them into the ground. By faith, we plant the seed, cover it with dirt, water it, place it in the sun, and wait. We wait, and water…. wait, and wait…. water a little more…. We take tender care in HOPES that a beautiful flower will bloom. We have faith, so we nurture our dirt, place on a little fertilizer…. and wait….

Patiently we wait, by faith…. But is it really faith since we can see the picture, on the package, of the end result? If God were to show us the end result than we wouldn’t need “faith”. God wants us to have faith in HIM. After planting these tiny seeds in the dirt, days, possibly weeks, go by….. but we see nothing, day after day we see nothing happening…. We begin to wonder, we begin to doubt…. Sometimes we even begin to grow weary…. But if we start digging around in the soil…. and messing with the seed….. we are going to destroy the bud, the blossom, that God is creating in the darkness.

Don’t try so hard to “manage” (or manipulate) things to go your way….. FAITH, Hope, and Prayer are the powerful means to the beautiful life that God has in-store for us.