A Crazy Amount

I recently spent a beach day with a friend who was telling me all about her garden. Her backyard had looked like a bomb went off and in order to get ready for the massive garden she wanted to plant, she had to throw herself into the hard work of getting everything fixed and primed. She was very excited to see the fruits of her efforts.

The long list of fruits, vegetables and herbs she had planted was nothing short of amazing. I asked her how many seeds she thought she planted and she said, “Oh man, I couldn’t even tell you. It was a crazy amount.”

Later that day I read a quote by Mark Batterson:

“Praying is planting. Each prayer is like a seed that gets planted in the ground.”

And that’s when the garden conversation came flooding back to my memory with great analogy.

We often look at our own lives and think, wow, what a mess. Sure, we want amazing faith gardens in which we’re producing a harvest that’s thriving, but often times it seems like the bombs of our circumstances have caused too much damage. Where does one start? How does one begin?

But like any good gardener will tell you, it takes hard work and elbow grease. God is asking the same for each one of us – to throw ourselves into the hard work of getting our lives fixed and primed so He has a healthy garden to work with… one that is prepared to produce a variety of goodness.

If you want a thriving prayer life, plant seeds of prayer.
If you want a thriving community, plant seeds of friendship.
If you want a thriving understanding of the Bible, plant seeds of The Word in your heart, mind and soul.

You produce what you plant, but you can’t produce if you don’t plant.

Then here’s what will happen…

One day, when you least expect it, you will be sitting around at the beach talking to your friend about your faith garden, telling her all about how excited you are to see the fruits of your efforts. And when she asks you how many seeds you think you planted, you too can say, “Oh man, I couldn’t even tell you. It was a crazy amount.”