Seed Beginnings

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.

Zechariah 4:10

I lay there in the dark, alert and ready to leap out of bed at any given second. The sound of the rat running back and forth on the bedpost inches from my head had me frozen in place, immobilized and afraid to breathe.

What on earth is he carrying in his mouth with such dedication? I wondered to myself. 

Back and forth, back and forth. 

Scratch, scramble, swoosh, slip, patter-patter-patter over my head. Again. And again. 

He was very busy and paid me no mind whatsoever. 

All of my senses, however, were completely trained upon his every move. I was trying very hard not to scream.

Turning my head slowly upward, I looked at him. For an instant, he seemed to pause and peer right into my eyes. In his sharp fangs, he was holding one shriveled kernel of precious corn. Just as quickly as he had paused, he was on his way again, deciding that I was too scared to threaten him. 

A tiny kernel of corn. Annoying and unimportant to me in light of my need for sleep. Paramount to the survival of this rat and his family, not to mention our host family in this African village. 

We had been given a bed in the seed shed, the driest, most protected dwelling on the small compound. Apparently not only was it dry, but it was a hotbed of nighttime activity as the rats made off with the precious seeds our hosts carefully collected and stored for the next season’s planting and harvest. 

Seeds, small though they were, held the future for the agrarian tribe with which we lived in the bush of Africa. The survival of families depended on those wee nuggets of hope.

Seeds teach us patience and the profound principle of small beginnings. 

Seed beginnings yield big growth. Jesus pointed to the tiny mustard seed as an illustration when describing the power of even a small amount of faith:

I tell you the truth, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.

Matthew 17:20

There is joy in small beginnings, and the Lord rejoices to see us begin.

The thing about seeds is they grow under the ground, in dirt, in the dark. And they grow even better if a bit of manure is thrown in. They can’t see the light that is pressing in from above, the light that their growth depends on, the light that draws them powerfully out of the Old and into the New. 

It seemed fitting to me to write about beginnings now in June after the eager start of this year was quickly buried like a seed in the ground. Covid19 and racial injustice have cast a long shadow over our aspirations and plans for 2020. Like a seed buried in the dark, we are cracking, splitting, stretching toward the light.

The old is dying and the new is breaking forth.

Don’t be discouraged or dismayed. Myriad seed beginnings are springing up in human hearts, in churches, in communities, in nations. People are risking their lives to save others. People are reaching across racial divides and listening to each other. People are letting the darkness push them toward the light.

The indescribably powerful light of Christ is drawing us out of the Old and into the New. This is how God works to bring hope and life to humanity. Small beginnings, growing out of the dark place of decay. Life out of death. 

God will bring life out of this dark season in our history. #hope #newbeginnings Share on X

Lilias Trotter, a gifted artist whose teachers had high hopes for her success, exchanged it all for a life of hidden service to Christ in North Africa. She had a tremendous talent for observing spiritual truths in the nature she loved to draw and paint.

Lilias frequently reflected on the power of the seed, the smallness and humility of the little miracle that must die in order to bring great life and fruit to nourish many.

A seed is the beginning of multiplication, of harvest, of generations of fruitfulness. 

Take a stroll in nature today and look at the seeds you find. Reflect on the greatness of the trees of the forest, all begun in smallness and hiddenness. Trust God to bring life out of small beginnings.

Lord, I yield to you my own heart as one small beginning. Amen.

@audreycfrank