I am concerned about the future of watermelon. When I was a child, I watched my grandmother dry watermelon seeds on the windowsill. When I asked her why she saved the seeds, she explained that she would use those seeds to grow watermelon in her garden the next year. Ergo, watermelon had a future!
To be honest, I am concerned about the future of many things these days. Not only do we enjoy seedless watermelon, but we also enjoy life without preparing for next year’s gardens. Metaphorically speaking, we don’t seem to be planting very many seeds at all any more.
Hymn writer Knowles Shaw penned the following words in his song “Bringing in the Sheaves”:
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve, sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
These words remind us that we have an obligation to prepare for our future. However, I’m afraid we may not be saving enough seeds for next year’s harvest.
My minister recently preached about the evaluation of today’s religions. Do they promote internal or external transformation? Internal transformation requires growth over time—much like a young vine reaches out and up and grows toward the sun.
Many of our religions today offer “feel good” moments with external stimuli from music and videos, but some are lacking in the Word. To quote T. H. White, “Man’s most vital possession [is] his Word. . . . Perhaps wars [happen] because nations [have] no confidence in the Word.” We need more seeds to plant the Word!
Like the pretentious Pharisees, we are sometimes more concerned about polishing the outside of our lives than we are about inviting the Word into our lives to cleanse our souls.
Are we instilling our young people with the knowledge they need to insure the future of Christianity, or are we teaching them if it “feels good,” to do it? What kinds of seeds, if any, are we planting today?
Like Xeroxed copies of an image, the more times an image is copied from its original, the weaker that image becomes. Likewise, the more society is removed from God, the less likely we are to be strong Christians, to be the people God planted us to be.
I’m not questioning today’s religions so much as I am questioning today’s relationships. Is our relationship with Christ at the center of our lives? Are our seeds planted by the Waters to the effect that we shall not be moved?
We as a society should evaluate the direction of our religion. We need fewer tax collectors and more fishermen. We need fewer Pharisees and more disciples. We need more farmers who save seeds for future gardens.
Even though a seedless society may be easier to manage, the book of Matthew calls Christians to “grow and produce fruit, sometimes a hundred times more, sometimes sixty times more, and sometimes thirty times more.”
Those seedless watermelons are certainly easier to eat, but I don’t think they have the same sweetness as those with the seeds.
Well done! Your literary garden is just beginning to bloom. With labour and love your sprinkling of literary seeds will surely flourish.