In first grade, I made a plant.

Everyone in class did. We placed potting soil into Styrofoam cups and tucked tiny seeds beneath the soil. Then we lined up the cups on the counter in the sunlight, and each day, gave the seed a bit of water.

What I recall most is the day when the tender shoot popped up through the soil. I’d made a plant.

I carried it home on the school bus when it grew bigger and showed my parents what I’d done. As I held the sweet, little plant in my hands, a bubble of pride bloomed inside my young heart.

But all I had done to make the plant grow was to give it what it needed: soil, sun, and water. The seed already contained everything necessary to bloom into a beautiful plant before I had even placed it into the dirt. I followed the teacher’s instructions. I watered it and made sure that it had sunlight.

Then, I waited. It did the miraculous thing that God had created it to do and became what He had designed: a beautiful little plant. That part was completely out of my control. God even provided the water and sunlight!

As Christians, we plant spiritual seeds.

It comes naturally because we want to share with others what God has done in our lives. We encourage family, friends, and coworkers to trust Him in every area of their lives, because He alone is trustworthy.

In childhood, I followed the directions of my teacher and gave the seed soil, sunlight, and water so that it could grow into a plant. Spiritually, we follow our Teacher’s directions and give others what they need. We point them to Jesus.

Sometimes, we never see tender spiritual shoots pop up through the soil from the seed that we planted. But sometimes, we do.

That’s when we might do the same thing that I did as a child: we might feel a little bubble of pride, thinking that we had done some great thing for God, when really, God did the great thing. We planted a seed in the garden of someone’s heart, into soil already prepared by God to receive it.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)

Personally, I can’t keep my mouth shut about God. I might get on some people’s nerves, but I won’t close my mouth. I won’t stop writing about the wonderful things that He does. I can’t. I’d burst if I didn’t let it out.

So, whenever you’re planting seeds, remember those spiritual seeds, and point others to Jesus. Just don’t put pressure on yourself about whether or not they sprout into plants. That’s God’s job.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for working in our lives in such a powerful way that we can’t keep our mouths shut about it. Give us the words to share with others who need to hear them. Give us the words to write to touch the hearts of those who need to read them. In the powerful name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Melinda Eye Cooper
Cottontown, Tennessee, USA

Reprinted from the PresbyCan Daily Devotional with the author’s permission