What do you think about life's meaning? I have experienced retirement for a month now, so I have had more time to focus on world events. I have followed Israel's war in the Middle East, the devastating storms in the south (especially the losses in North Carolina mountains where my husband's family lives), the anti-Semitic rage on so-called elite campuses, and, of course, the presidential election with two assassination attempts. This, on top of closer-to-home issues like friends dying and people sleeping in cold tents, makes my heart ache.
My Bible offers comfort and hope. I especially like to read chapters 14–17 in John when life seems to hold more than enough pain. These chapters include the last words from Jesus to His disciples before He was arrested and crucified. Jesus shared what life is really about, and He encouraged people to trust Him-even when life is tough. Jesus said in John 15:1, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."
I recently have felt like a child whose Father was taking her through a tour of His garden. In my July article, I talked about the date palm seed that is alive, growing, and involved in producing fruit after 2,000 years. I marveled at the wonder of being alive! How do we become alive?
One morning, as I worked on my September article, I cut open an odd cantaloupe which was unusually packed full of seeds; the multiplication factor stunned me. I could not imagine how much fruit and how many more seeds could come from these seeds; it would be as massive as the stars in the sky!
I had planned a non-garden topic for this November-December article as winter is starting and we are in the Christmas season, but this morning my mind went back to our Father's garden, and He showed me a glimpse of His most cherished produce-His children.
Not one person can replace another person. Each one of us begins as a seed; then we grow and produce fruit. As a carrot seed grows a carrot and an apple seed forms an apple tree, our physical seed determines the color of our hair, eyes and skin.
I don't have room here to talk about all the aspects of DNA and how each of us is affected by it, but to me it is a bit like looking out into space and trying to understand the universe.
Our heavenly Gardener has invested everything into our spiritual fruitfulness. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:16–17).
One of my greatest moments was when I realized that all of my failures qualified me for the cross. That can be another article.
Jesus said that He is the vine (trunk part), and we are the branches; and, if we stay connected to Him, we will have a great amount of fruit. "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last" (John 15:16).
He died as a seed for us. As our spiritual seed grows, we can look like Jesus; love like Jesus, and be in yoke with Him as He fulfills His Father's plan to bring His heavenly kingdom to this pain-ravaged earth.
We each have more value to God than we can understand. If you just feel like a tiny, dried up seed, realize that this is how God starts His miraculous work. We can trust Him; He will bring about a transformation in our lives that is just as different as a tiny seed is from a tree full of fruit.
Sue Carlisle grew up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. An enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska,
her passion is to encourage
people to look at creation
and see our awesome
Creator. Sue is author of
Walking with the Creator
Along the Narrow Road
(see https://www.indianlife.org/store/). She and her
husband, Wes, now live in
Thunder Bay, Ontario.
