Spring is for Planting
Spring has officially “sprung” on the calendar and you can certainly tell by going into your local nurseries and garden centers. These stores are buzzling with customers right now. Everyone is out in their yards and cleaning, fertilizing, planting, etc. preparing for spring and summer. After a cold, dreary, rainy winter season here in South Louisiana, people are THRILLED to be outside!
The nurseries and garden centers are my favorite stores to shop in right now. I love the smell of fresh potting soil, picking out beautiful pots and even more beautiful flowers to plant in each pot. I could spend hours walking through these stores looking at each flower and plant, deciding exactly where to plant each one ~ just enjoying of the beauty of nature and the handiwork of our Creator!
As these spring days have flooded such beautiful, warm sunshine into our lives, I think this season is a wonderful reminder of what God longs to grow in each one of us.
What if we took as much time, energy, excitement, hard work and determination as we do with our yards and gardens and applied that to our spiritual lives?
It is no wonder that the Bible has MUCH to say about planting and about seeds.
God knew that just as He’s created all the trees, grasses, flowers, etc. to be planted, fertilized, nurtured and watered in order for those plants and flowers to reach their maximum beauty ~ our lives were created to need those same elements to reach our fullest potential and beauty also!
God’s Word speaks of two different kinds of planting:
The planting of our lives, and the planting of our seeds.
Psalms 92: 13 (NIV) says: “Planted in the house of God, they will flourish in the courts of our God.”
God clearly says that we are to plant ourselves in His house, the church. If we desire to “flourish” (to grow, to thrive, to prosper) in our lives, we must PLANT ourselves in the local church. Not just randomly attend church whenever we feel like it or run to it because of a crisis in our lives, but PLANT ourselves firmly in the house of God.
Only when we make a decision to become planted in God’s house, being watered by the worship and teaching of God’s Word, do our roots grow deep and beautiful fruit begins to be evident in our lives.
Are you planted in the house of God? What’s keeping you from doing so? There is no perfect church, just as there are no perfect people… including you and I. But through our obedience to God’s Word, our lives can be blessed, thriving, grounded and growing as we intentionally plant ourselves in His house… the local church.
Why not commit this spring season to find a healthy, Bible teaching/believing church and plant yourself in it? And in doing so, it will be amazing to see how your life will flourish!
The second way the Bible teaches us about planting is to plant our seeds.
Galatians 6:7 (NLT) tells us: “Do not be misled ~ you will always harvest what you plant.” The Passion Translations says it this way: “The harvest you reap reveals the seed that was planted.”
We are constantly planting seeds and often times, we do not even realize that we are planting.
The words we speak = planting seeds
Our attitudes = planting seeds
Our treatment of others = planting seeds
Our thoughts = planting seeds
Our prayers = planting seeds
Each and every day, seeds are being planting from our lives. If you are “harvesting” things in your life that you are not pleased or happy with, or even more importantly God is not pleased with, look at the seeds you are planting.
This principle of God is very simple: Plant good seeds, see good results in your life. Plant bad seeds, see bad results.
And even when you plant nothing, something still grows: WEEDS.
In our gardens and in our hearts, when nothing is planted, weeds will grow.
Weeds of unforgiveness, of resentment, bitterness, doubt, worry, fear ~ the list of weeds can be endless. Something is going to grow regardless of whether you plants seeds or not ~ it’s just up to you what you will see growing in your life.
Let’s be intentional in this season of planting: to plant what is good, what is Godly, and what is beautiful. Then watch the beauty that will grow out of your life for others to see and enjoy!
“If you plant the good seeds of Spirit-life, you will reap the beautiful fruits that grow from the everlasting life of the Spirit.” (Galatians 6:8b TPT)
