Two Seeds
Once there was a field of Wheat.If you listened carefully one could hear the seed heads talking to each other.They were waving in the gentle breeze.
They were all boasting about how beautiful they were.How bright and shiny their coats were and how fat they were.Some were saying how good they were praising God their creator.They were trying to outdo each other in how much they praised God.
Then they talked about Jesus. Some were saying how great it was that the Messiah had come and that changes would now happen.Others scoffed and said, what difference would it make for them Jesus was only for humans.One, maybe a little older, said no The Messiah was for all creation. Followers of Jesus would ultimately take authority over all creation and new life would follow with none of those nasty weeds.However most did not care, they just went on boasting.
All of a sudden Jesus appeared with His disciples. Some of the disciples were hungry and plucked some seed heads and ate them. That really set the other seeds off. Why not me? I am just as beautiful, why not me?
Some of the wiser seed heads just ignored them.
After Jesus and His disciple had left there started a conversation as what would happen in the future?They all knew something would change. The way they were growing so plump something would burst soon.
Again the wiser seed heads told of what they had heard. The Reaper would come and cut off their heads!No! No! Others cried out. We are so beautiful surely that would not happen.Yes, the reply came our heads will be cut off and our beautiful coats will be destroyed.Slowly they all began to realised this was true.
Then the boasting started again. Some saying what fantastic results would come from their beautiful seeds.
One said I will be made into bread and I will feed many people.Another said proudly, I want to just die.
Then the call came out that the reaper was coming and those two seeds prophesies came about.
It was a sad time as each seed heads saw their friends cut off and fall to the ground.Then they were suddenly placed into bags and the two seeds never saw each other again.
The one who wanted to become to become bread to feed many found out it was not nice going through the “mill”.
It cried out as its beautiful shinny coat was stripped off.It cried when it was beaten and pounded.Was this really necessary? All this pain?It was then it saw that what was inside its life was what really mattered.
It was the powder inside not the outer pretty covering.All they had glorified while they were on their stalks was now thrown away as chaff.All they had boasted about was next to worthless.It was the inside that counted.
The poor seed did not know what was next!
After many more painful experiences it became pure flour.Then the really unbearable! It was not alone but other strange things were mixed with it.Things it had never seen before, some were lumpy, some very wet and others made it do strange things like swelling to a size it never knew was possible.It was mixed so close that it merged with those other strange “things”.Then after it was totally mixed up, it was pounded again, rolled up into a ball then . . . placed in a very hot place. So much for wanting to feed others!
The seed, (not really a seed now as it had become so utterly changed) thought to its self. This not what I had in mind.Why could I not do this alone? Do I need to be mixed with all these “other” things? I would make fine bread by myself.Little did it know this was impossible?Then after being in the heat it came out so melded with the other ingredients it suddenly realised it was so one with the others that it could not have achieved this alone.
It finally became bread suitable to be eaten.
changed with many trials.Not a nice process but a fantastic result!
So it learned it needed others and it needed to be
But what happened to the other seed?
It had said it wanted to die and die it did!
It noticed it was amongst just a few seeds that had separated from the bulk of the seeds.
Then pride took over as it realised it was amongst a select few.But its attitude soon changed.The seed found its self in a dark damp area.Slimy things passed in the dark.The shinny outer coating it once boasted about got all shrivelled up.To any who may have looked at it the seed looked dead!The seed had got its wish!
Then strange things started to happen from within the seed.A new “thing” started growing down into the dark substance it was now in.Then another “thing” started growing upwards.
What! Out of the “dead” became new life!
The growth that went deeper brought back nutrients that enabled the whole to grow larger.The growth that went up finally found its way into the open.
It grew larger and larger.New growth branched out.Then the original seed found it started to grow seed heads of its own.Finally it realised that out of the One seed that had died many seeds had grown.
The question we must ask ourselves is which seed do we wish to be like?
Do we wish our lives to stay alive but also be used by our God for the benefit of many people?Would we allow our lives to be used to nourish others and help them grow?
Or would we prefer to die to all ambitions, yet live again to multiply?
Either is so much better than seeds that just look at their own beauty and importance!