Soil, Seeds, and Sun
Have you ever asked, "Why is life so hard?" Why a constant sense of pressure, or why the unrelenting stone-hard circumstances? Of course there are no easy answers to explain suffering, but something that has shafted light on the struggle, is the metaphor of the seed.
We have a lot in common with seeds.
The Struggle
Once planted in the earth, a seed must die to begin growing. And as it grows, it must push through dirt, dung, and decay. It must penetrate through rock or wend around it. All in the dark.
To become the plant its DNA prescribes, it must grow down roots to anchor and take up water and nutrients. Note that dirt is the source of nutrients. Messy, grimy, ordinary dirt.
Growth
The seed must send a shoot skyward knowing it must struggle in the direction of the sun. When it finally breaks through to the world above ground, it enters the new realm as a transformed creation, the product of its unique DNA and the environment that shaped it.
I like to imagine that we are like those seeds, planted in a messy, broken, and dark world. Infected with death, we will not awaken and grow unless the Holy Spirit of Life breaks out within. Then we, too, must push through the muck and mess of a sinful world and overcome obstacles of opposition. To grow, our roots must be anchored also and drink deeply from streams of Living Water.
Becoming
How wonderful to know that our "life force," the Holy Spirit, will guide our struggle to reach the realm "above ground." Someday we will finally bask in the rays of the Son and rejoice in his kingdom forever. In that world we will be a diverse bouquet to His glory, a display of triumph over the struggle that took place in dark and often hostile conditions.
So, the next time you find yourself discouraged about painful circumstances, perhaps it would be helpful to remember that dirt and fertilizer are the conditions seeds need to thrive!
Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:20-21).