Layman's Pulpit

THE PARABLE OF THE SEED  

Typed under direction by the Holy Spirit August 2001

 There once was a man who received an inheritance of land, servants and many buildings that were well stocked with equipment, tools, and various items. As he stood surveying his inheritance of land for the first time, the man offered up a prayer. He prayed that the inheritance would be blessed and that he would be given the strength and wisdom to be able to maintain his inheritance and make the land fruitful so that he may pass on the inheritance to his sons and their sons. The man, knowing the necessity and value of hard work, immediately rolled up his sleeves and said, “Where shall I start?”

Wisely the man said to himself, “I shall learn of this land and the servants and I shall learn how to use all the tools presented to me with this blessing that I may multiply my inheritance.” With that, the man went forth to take inventory of his inheritance. The first building the man entered was filled with many wonderful tools and at the far end of the building was a large window that overlooked a field of newly tilled soil. Ah, said the man to himself, I see that the ground has been prepared for planting but I know little of farming. Then wisely to himself the man correctly reasoned, “In order to obtain a harvest, the earth needs seed.”  The man continued his thoughts about planting and reasoned further that since the ground has been broken that it must be time to plant the seed. The man believed in taking immediate action and quickly pushed up his sleeves above the elbow and embarked on a search of the building to see if he could locate the seed and the tools he would need for planting. Indeed on the wall adjoining the big window was several sets of long drawers in a large wooden cabinet. Upon investigation of the contents of those long drawers, the man discovered a multitude of seeds. As the man was taking count of the many different kinds of seeds he had discovered, he had another thought, “How shall I know what fruit or grain these seeds shall bear?”

The man took one of the seeds out of the long drawer and walked back to the window that was overlooking the freshly tilled soil. Directly in front of the big window sat a small wooden table with a simple hand-made stool pushed underneath. The man pulled the simple stool from under the small wooden table and seated himself in front of the window overlooking the field. The top of the table was obviously worn with time but yet it and the stool were comfortably smooth. The man set the single seed in the middle of the table. There was nothing else on the table except a beam of sunlight and the tiny seed he had placed there.  The brilliant light coming through the large sunlit window made the tiny black seed sparkle and stand out dramatically against the soft tan top of the small wooden table. The man looked intently at the tiny seed that was now the centerpiece of the sunlit table. The man asked inwardly a second time as he pondered the tiny seed and its mysterious miracle, “How indeed shall I know what fruit or grain this seed shall bear?”

The man in his many travels had developed the habit of taking counsel of knowledgeable persons when encountering new experiences. He would then listen carefully to those persons having knowledge associated with that experience and strived to fully understand their teachings. Looking inside himself for previously learned lessons that may apply to the seed, and taking consideration of the mystery of the tiny seed on the small wooden table, the man brought to his mind two verses from his studies of the wise men of his religion. The first verse spoke of a parable about several men that were given different talents and then each were later questioned as to what they had accomplished with those talents. The second verse spoke of knowing the tree by the fruit that it bears. 

Again the man observed that the seed lying on the table was not growing and inwardly stated, “The seed will not grow unless it is planted.” The man continued with his argument by thinking that the seed will grow if it is planted correctly in the freshly tilled soil that seemed to be calling him from just outside the window. Correctly the man declared to himself, “If I desire to grow wheat and it is not a seed of wheat that I plant, then even if I planted the seed and it grew, I would not be growing wheat as I desire.” The man continued his thought and reasoned that if he planted the seed, the seed would grow only the fruit or grain that lay within the seed. Regardless of what fruit or grain that man desires to grow from the seed, the seed will only produce fruit or grain that lies silently within the seed --- regardless of the planting or the desire of the man. A still small voice spoke to the man, “The seed will grow what lies within the seed, not what lies within the desires of men”. The man thought on the soft knowing words of the still small voice and said to himself, “All my faith, good intentions, and hard work will be for naught if I desire to grow wheat and plant not the seeds of wheat.” And again the man gazed on the tiny seed lying all by itself in the sunlight on the smooth wooden table and still questioned, “How shall I know what fruit or grain this seed shall bear?” 

Thinking now like the parable of the talents given to the men, the man admonished himself of the seed, “If I do not plant this seed, I will not produce more seed nor will I harvest any fruit or grain. Therefore, I must busy myself with planting the seed if I desire to harvest”. However, the man thought, I truly do not know what seed this is so before I plant it, surely I should know what fruit or grain this seed shall produce. I could simply plant this seed and see what fruit or grain that it bears the man continued, and then I will know what kind of seed this is by the fruit or grain it produced. The man thought on the seed and the planting some more and marveled at the mystery of the story of the very tiny mustard seed which was also in the words recorded by the wise men. The man knew from his readings that if he planted the seed in good faith that he could move mountains. The man reasoned about the tiny seed on the table that he could reap at least one harvest if he planted the seed in a field of good faith and nurtured it with good intentions. The man picked the seed up off the smooth table, firmly gripped it in his hand, turned his face to the sun coming through the window and looked out on the newly tilled soil. With all his best intentions, the man determinedly vowed, “I shall plant this seed and make it grow, then I will know of the seed.” With that, the man confidently turned to search for tools to accomplish the planting of the seed. 

By this time the seed had completely become the focal point of the man’s existence and his recent inheritance. The man began to realize that the seed would open a new universe and this new universe would encompass planting, tilling, growing, harvesting, storing, and getting the seed to market. He realized the land, the servants, and the well-stocked buildings, indeed the total of his inheritance, as well as himself, all existed for a single purpose --- to serve the tiny seed. The man slowly opened his fist and looked at that one tiny seed in his now shaking hand and realized that to coax the miracle from this one tiny seed that he had a very, very large task ahead of him. A flicker of insight sparked a humble inquiry from the man, “Have I inherited the seed or has the seed inherited me?” As the man thought of the enormous task of pulling the miracle from the tiny seed, he realized that the little seed and the seemingly simple task of putting it in the ground had quickly become a monumental array of infinite tasks. What once had started out as an infinitesimally small seed, now seemed like a universe of universes and those universes were growing and expanding at an exponential rate.  Suddenly the seed had become very heavy and weighted in his hands. 

The man laboriously set the seed back on the table, took a deep breath and stood quietly observing the miracle lying there in the middle of the small wooden table in the form of one tiny seed. The man slumped to the stool and wiped the sweat from his previously undaunted brow that had just moments ago furrowed so deeply when the enormity of the miracle had weighted the man’s entire existence. Slowly now, the man took a second deep breath as he pondered on the tiny seed that had now dominated his inheritance. How quickly this seed has filled my thoughts mused the man, and indeed even the building seems small and insignificant compared to this seed and its miracle. With new respect and admiration, the man reflected on the tiny seed in complete awe. Now a new and fully humbled man sat on the stool realizing the miracle of the singular seed lying quietly in full sunlight on the small wooden table. I shall consider my inheritance further said the man and he bowed his head in prayer. 

In a twinkling the seed had taught the man about the true responsibility of his inheritance. The seed had also impressed upon the man that the miracle of life does not exist in the land, the landlord, the servants, nor any material thing that man collects, and certainly the miracle lies neither in certificates of ownership nor fancy titles of nobility. The seed had shown the man that the true miracle of life lies in the seeds that are planted and how we nurture them with our existence. Each harvest in life is the result of planting tiny seeds and the care we take with those seeds between the planting and the harvest. The man raised his head from his prayer and again gazed on the miracle of the seed. Calmly now, the man said to himself, “Surely, if one wishes to grow wheat, one must plant the seeds of wheat. I shall be known by the fruit that I bear and I shall harvest from my existence only what lies within the seeds that I plant.” 

The man picked up the seed again but this time he saw that his inheritance lies within the seed and marveled that he had first thought that the seed was merely an inventory item of his inheritance. Holding the seed safely in the palm of those hands that had just seconds before been folded in prayer, the man saw the seed anew. He turned with the seed and looked at the freshly tilled soil through the sun filled window and asked for a blessing on the seed knowing that if the seed was blessed, the man’s life , his inheritance, and all future generations would be blessed,. The man took the seed and pressed it to his heart and speaking from a new understanding said, “Before I plant this seed, I will know of the seed”. Softly the still small voice answered the man, “By honoring the truth of the seed, you shall harvest your own legacy.”

The man then went forth in grace to find those that could tell him of the seed and the man found all that had wisdom of the seed and took their counsel. The man learned the many lessons of the seed and kept that wisdom close to his heart. As a symbol of that knowledge and its ultimate importance, the man from that day forward kept one tiny seed in his vest pocket next to his heart. With his focus firmly on the seed and its miracle, the man indeed knew he could protect his inheritance. The man’s life was blessed with many fruitful harvests and he had many sons. 

One afternoon the man’s eldest son went seeking advice from his father and found the old man sitting at his usual place on the simple stool at the small wooden table by the big window at the end of the seed barn. The sun was coming across the field of newly tilled soil into the big window where the old man was sitting. The old man’s head appeared to be bowed in prayer and a single beam of sunlight gave the illusion of a halo sitting on his father’s thin gray hair. The old man’s leathered hand was closed tightly in a fist and lying in the middle of the small wooden table. The eldest son waited for several minutes but then noticing his father had not moved, walked slowly to his father’s side. When the son reached his father, he gazed down at the peaceful praying figure and knew that his father had passed away. The son smiled because he knew that this was his father’s favorite place and planting of the seed was his father’s favorite time. He then gently took his father’s hand from the smooth wooden table, opened the old man’s fist, and BEING REVERENTLY HELD in the middle of his father’s wrinkled palm was one tiny seed. The son marveled at the tiny seed and how it sparkled in the sunlight in the soft leathered tan of the old man’s hand. He reverently took the seed from his father’s palm, grasped the tiny black seed in his own fist, and placed it firmly against his heart. The son then looked at his loving father and vowed, “Surely my father will be remembered for the many wonderful seeds that he planted and the fruit of his many labors.”

The son took the tiny seed and placed it reverently in the middle of the small wooden table. The sun coming through the big window made the tiny black seed sparkle and the old man’s hands now appeared folded in prayer on his lap. The scene of the brilliant sunlight falling on his father sitting with his head bowed at the small wooden table that held a single tiny seed struck the son that his father was praying even now for a blessing on the tiny seed. The son vowed that the tiny black seed would remain always on that small wooden table in honor of his father. The son quietly bowed his own head, and gently touching the strong hand of his father, asked his own blessing on the seed and the soul of his loving father. The son prayed that the seed and the legacy of his father would both be blessed for all generations. He then prayed that his sons and his son’s sons would always remember the great lessons his father had taught about the seed and the honor the seed would bring to each generation. Through the seed, the old man’s legacy was passed down for all generations and the seed was indeed blessed and produced much good fruit and grain, generation after generation.

One tiny seed sitting all by itself on a small wooden table ended up affecting literally thousands and thousands of lives for the betterment of all generations that followed. “Know what seeds you are planting and plant your seeds carefully for your children shall inherit the seeds of your harvest.”