I recently was at a gathering of good friends when one of those friends made what I’ll call a very wise analogy showing how faith works.
There is the seed. In order for the seed to grow, it must be planted. The soil must be dug and the seed deposited at the appropriate depth. Once covering the seed with soil, one must make sure to it gets the right amount of moisture. There are those cases where fertilizer must be added if the soil doesn’t contain the right amount of nutrients. Then there is the pruning of excess that sometimes must be done to keep the plant flourishing.
But what’s going on inside of the seed isn’t anything over which I have control. The necessary chemical bonding together for the seed to start to sprout. The seed reaching down into the ground to plant its roots and sending shoots up toward the surface to enable it to receive the sunlight it needs to grow.
So there are those two parts: the work that I must do and the miracle of life that grows within the buried seed. While it’s true that this will occur in nature without human help, there are those seeds that are intentionally planted to grow what I’d like to see.
Faith in a Higher Power can work much the same way. I have to be willing to do the work necessary to help my faith to grow. I must attempt to keep a clear mind and practice self-care to optimize my chances of seeing change. I need to do those things placed in front of me and leave the results up to God. As a familiar book says, “Faith without works is dead.”
A spiritual awakening is indeed like the miracle of the developing seed. I do not completely understand it, but trust in the process and therefore, trust the journey I must travel. May the God of my understanding give me the guidance, wisdom, and strength this day so that my faith might grow.
David Lee
David Lee 