My favorite movie since childhood is The Wizard of Oz. From the wonderful music to the very simple idea that "There’s no place like home" I can’t help but love it. When Dorothy finds herself dropped into the middle of an unfamiliar place, unsure of how to get home, she receives simple advice from Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. "It's always best to start at the beginning" and so that is where I’ll start. Growing up in the country I was able to see up close all that goes into farming. From plowing the field to planting the seeds to water irrigation and finally the harvesting of corn and beans. I doubt there is a profession on earth as labor intensive and worrisome as being a farmer. And so when I read Paul talking in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 about how he planted the seed and Apollos watered it, I can’t help but think that what he is describing has a bit more to it than a singular event, or one time investment. There is some nurture and care followed by a lot of prayer and then it happens. God made it grow! When it comes to me I know there are a handful of people that planted and watered seeds in my life early on. For years they probably did so while seeing little to no change in my external behavior. If anything they probably saw this little kid get worse as I neared my teenage years.
One night as 7th grader changed everything for me. I knew something was terribly wrong as soon as I heard the phone ring. I was doing what I normally did after a track meet as I stretched out across the floor with a pillow and relaxed while watching television. Young Riders was on that Tuesday and I was getting into Easter break mode since school was done for the week. When my mom went to answer the phone I went the other way around the house so I could hear who it was and what they wanted. When she started crying the gut feeling I had was confirmed. Something was wrong. The conversation was brief and the little I heard from her side of the conversation didn’t help me one bit. She called for me as soon as she hung up and it was then that I found out that a classmate of mine, one I had seen at the track meet just a couple hours earlier, had committed suicide.
The 3 days from then until the funeral were a blur. I had to deal with a flood of emotions that quickly moved from one to the next as I wasn’t quite sure what I should be feeling. Anger, sadness and uncertainty took their turns. Following the funeral I went immediately to my room and it was then that I realized that it was Good Friday. I found it ironic that the absolute worst day of my entire short life was Good Friday. In my anger and sadness, and in the absence of any answers for why any of this had happened I asked, "What possibly could be good about Good Friday?" I knew the biblical answer for what Good Friday was about. People had been planting and watering seeds in my life for years, but then something else happened. God made something grow and it started with something that in looking back can only be described as a revelation. I hadn’t spent those days pondering the biblical answers about Good Friday nor spent time considering the biblical truth revealed to me in an instant that day as I directed a question to Him. It wasn’t a voice that spoke to my ears but a voice that spoke to the core of a very angry and hurt kid. "I know what suffering feels like." The Good News of Good Friday went so much further than what I had ever heard before. On that Friday and on this Friday God personally knew suffering and even knew my suffering. The only one who could absolutely identify with my suffering was Him. And that is where this whole thing started for me as God made use of the seed that was planted and watered and brought growth and life from death.
On this day consider those people who have planted and watered seeds in your life. Consider those people who you are, or ought to be, planting or watering seeds in their lives but in the process don’t forget to pray and give glory to the God who makes things grow.
My next post will talk about growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ which I have chosen as a theme for this blog.
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