Do you remember that scene in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ when Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow start down the yellow brick road and to give themselves courage they chanted, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my”? Of course they did meet a lion but he was ‘cowardly’ and he was more afraid of them than they were of him.
I think of that chant when I wander out to the family garden which is located by the house where I stay half the week. Except I chant, zucchini, tomatoes and beans, oh my. Yep, it is that time of year when the few seeds, planted with lots of hope and plenty of faith, have flourished in the sun and rain of June and July and now that August is here those seeds are huge plants that are pumping out the produce!
The first hand-picked beans of the season are an absolute treat. The first tender beets, steamed and slathered with butter, send me into ecstasy! The first tomato, still warm from the sun, sliced and laid on toast then dressed with mayonnaise and fresh cracked pepper can fill me with rapture. But this is now the third week of eating beans fresh from the garden and I am ready for a change of diet. A lightly seasoned zucchini, sauteed with tomatoes and onions, is the perfect accompaniment to just about anything, but it is impossible to keep up to the zucchini which can be 4 inches long one day and the next day the length of your arm. What to do with a foot long zucchini.
This week at church I am working with the theme, based on a suggestion from a congregant, ‘Food in the Bible’. In preparation I am reading Bread, Body, Spirit, Finding the Sacred in Food compiled by Alice Peck. In her opening chapter she writes, “Planting a seed is an act of faith. It’s about hope and trust. From the promise of placing a tiny kernel into black dirt, to the miraculous transformation from seedling into flower into fruit into food, to the anticipation of harvest when the miracle becomes the tangible, these same cycles of growth and change found in the garden are mirrored in many faiths. … The simple seed embodies limitless potential, and this is a theme resonant in many spiritual traditions.”
It is a miracle when you think of all that is around us that we just take for granted. In the Gospel of Mark it says, “The Kingdom of God is like one who casts seed upon the soil; and they go to bed and night and get up by day, and the seen sprouts and grows – how, the person themselves do not know.” It is the seemingly impossible transformation that begins with the planting of a seed.
We are all busy planting seeds. Maybe not in the garden or in the field but we plant seeds of ideas in conversation. We plant seeds of hope in someone who is struggling. We plant seeds of anticipation when we make plans for the future. We plant seeds of justice when we support organizations that make a positive difference in the world. We plant seeds of faith when we act with kindness towards another.
I am wondering what seeds you are planting today? And as those seeds grow and flourish what will they turn into? And I don’t mean a really large zucchini!
