The River Church Community

Scattered Seed grows:

A few days ago, I grabbed buckwheat and cowpeas by the handful and liberally tossed them into the air and unto the soft ground.  (See entry 2 to learn more about cover crops). The little red and tan seeds sat atop the soil, full of potential and completely vulnerable—to birds to the sun to any number of things.  Hoping to protect them, I raked the dirt around a bit.

The walk from the garden to my house is 5 blocks.  I walked it slowly, thinking of all kinds of various concerns and dreaming a bit of future possibilities.  At home, I ate and watched a movie with my wife.  I prepared for bed and slept on a tempur-pedic pillow (a great buy, I might add)—without a worry in the world.

And today, I returned to the garden.  The plot looked much the same.  Except, today, a few seedlings had begun to pop through the soft soil.  Seeds had popped.  I had scattered and watered and life had sprung up. And tomorrow, I will come again to my plot after a nice nights sleep and see the seeds growing more still.  Day by day, they will grow as if by magic.  Months hence, the cover crop will by ready for harvest and I will add the buckwheat and cowpeas to the compost pile or dig them straight into the soil to add even more micro-organisms to the dirt. 

Much like the kingdom of God: "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." 

The crop will have grown and through I understand the science, I know not how it happens—for the process is more beautiful than chemistry and biology makes out.  Greater than the sum of its parts, it is a wondrous and majestic dance in which life comes forth from dirt and worms and little things so small the eye can’t see.  A mysterious dance choreographed by a mysterious hand.  A seed tossed, water spattered, and life.  Such is our Creator God.