Author: Scott Allman
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Mark 10:15:
The plans of the diligent lead to success, as surely as haste leads to poverty. Proverbs 21:5:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37
These autumn days are pleasant; indeed, they are most enjoyable for us humans. Garden plants know it is time to hurry up and make seeds. Our Hurry Up Job is to pick ripe fruits before squirrels beat us to them. People can plan beyond immediate consumption.
Simply put, from this year’s crops we should be gathering seeds for next year’s crops. It is easy. All the steps fit neatly into just one single (run on) sentence: “Pick a ripe tomato, enjoy squishing it into pulp between your fingers, drop that into a small jar and cover with water, let sit a few days, strain out the seeds, and dry them in a warm place.”
Bingo. Harvesting seeds is a task so simple a child could do it. Children, when confronted with a task, turn it into a game. Young ones always look for ways to play. Adults like me however, have forgotten that wisdom. We complicate the matter and ruin a good thing.
Smarty pants scientists and engineers will endlessly dream up questions and hobbling aspirations. Why do it simply when you can optimize and take the fun out of it?
Should you write the plant name on the jar, or the lid, or its location on the drying mat? Maybe all three! Heaven forbid that next summer you discover that the Sun Gold seed was really from a Green Envy Heirloom. After all, many seeds look alike.
Did you collect enough seeds? In order to double plant in a tray with 36 slots – two seeds in each square – you need 72 seeds. Once sprouted, you sacrifice the smaller one, thanking it for its service, and make space for the larger one. Do you have enough, or have you miscounted, or maybe you should triple plant? After all, once Spring comes around the germination window closes fast.
Of course you want genetic variety in this year’s seed harvest. Maybe you should pick more? After all, the garden has many plants of the same kind.
Perhaps I should have given the seeds more time to ripen. After all, blah, blah, blah. After all, after all.
To make seed harvesting fun again, what wisdom might we find in the Scriptures? Luckily for us, the BIble is chock full of parables, stories, and commandments about simplicity, humility, and a focus on spiritual values.
Did Jesus ever say to those around him, “You are making this too complicated. The task here is quite simple.”? You betcha he did. See the passage from Mathew.
Where, perhaps in the Old Testament, do we find the wisdom of “Everyone stay focused on our tasks. Take your time and do the job right.” Simple work, a modicum of perseverance, and planning is what is needed. See the passage from Proverbs.
Children know how to get things done. There is a contrast between the childlike faith that Jesus values and the skepticism or doubt that can hinder adults. See the passage from Mark.
The pedigree of this devotional is a history of many false starts. In the beginning I started a deep philosophical treatise on the “Grace of God.” But then, like many amateur philosophers, I ventured down lots of rabbit holes. When I came back up for air, I checked my PBM (or Personal Befuddlement Meter); alas, the needle kept moving upward. Soon, I feared it would hit the upper peg on the dial. Time to change things.
Simplicity returned this task to child-like fun.