What Seeds Are You Planting?

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seeds for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” (2 Cor. 9:10 ESV)

In the Midwest, January may seem like an odd time to be sowing seeds. Our grass is dormant and frost-covered. Our ground is so frozen no shovel would make a dent. Yet January will find my hands pressing moist soil into a blocker and placing tiny seeds into each block.

This January marks my second year as a full-time flower farmer. The American Grown Flowers movement is experiencing a resurgence as more consumers choose locally grown flowers that reduce our carbon footprint, keep money in local economies, and support native pollinator populations from birds to bees.

If you search for flower farming-related hashtags on social media, you will be inundated with beauty. Farmers shoulder towering bunches of exquisite blooms or walk through fields of blossoms. From individual blooms to colorful bouquets, the harvests of flower farms were made for platforms like Instagram.

The countless images of flowers are gorgeous, yet any flower farmer will tell you running a flower farm isn’t all sunshine and roses. Your work is nearly year-round, seven days a week. You work in all weather, often in the dark. Everything you own is dirty. You stop counting the number of mosquito bites. Soil takes up permanent residence under your fingernails. You must continuously educate your local market on the benefits of buying direct when they can pick up a bouquet at the local grocery store for half the cost. Your investment is at the mercy of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. Farming is not for the faint of heart.

To get my customers’ favorite annuals like snapdragons and ranunculus in spring, I begin sowing seeds in January. Sowing seeds is the ultimate test of hope. You press a speck into the earth, believing a towering plant awaits. You show up each day with your belief in what will come, nurturing the new growth with clean water and pure light.

Ancient Israel was a largely agricultural society. Thus, the wisdom of the Bible is often shared through the lens of farming, God giving us practical examples to share profound truths. Psalm 126:6 reminds us that though we sow in grief, we may reap an abundant harvest in traveling through that experience (ESV). Jesus praised faith akin to a mustard seed, humble beginnings leading to a robust and vibrant plant (Matt. 17:20 ESV). James calls us to the patient work of farming, remaining steadfast in the seasons without complaining and judging (James 5:7-12 ESV).

Many of us are thinking of sowing a different kind of seed in January, the type that will lead to new habits or beliefs in the year to come. Just like those tiny seeds in my basement, the seeds of change must be attended to with consistency and care. We must tend them and cover them in prayer.

This year, I’m choosing seeds over resolutions. Resolutions come to us in finished form, announcing the final product from the get-go and sometimes resulting in shame if we don’t complete the work. Seeds, on the other hand, tell of humble starting points with uncertain ends. We hold to the belief that good fruit will be produced by our efforts, the process as important as the destination. When we plant seeds of change, we can tie our efforts to the never-ending process of growth, death, and rebirth that we see in nature and in the resurrection, knowing that both celebration and grief will be part of the process.

Here are a few of the seeds I am planting this year:

• Choosing to see the best in everyone, remembering we belong to each other as siblings bearing the image of God.
• Making peace with the body I have and caring for her as a dearly loved being.
• Speaking to myself as I would a precious friend.
• Fostering connection and joy in an increasingly polarized, jaded world.
• Choosing silence and presence with the divine over distraction and busyness.

Now it’s your turn. Will you choose the work of sowing seeds this season? The work is hard, but God is with you. I’m cheering you on with my dirt-stained hands.

Lord, you are gracious and kind, supplying our needs, and meeting us where we are. Reveal to us the seeds of change you have for each of us in this season. Provide the strength and stamina we need to tend the growth in our lives. Remind us we do not toil alone, because you are preparing the soil for us. Amen.

Scripture for Reflection

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Gal. 6:9 ESV)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”(John 15:1-5 ESV)

We are the seed planters, but our seeds cannot grow apart from God. Take some time to pray and ask God to reveal the seeds of change that will bring you greater sanctification and union with him.

 Reach for More

One of the most significant benefits of farming in this age is the wealth of information and encouragement shared between farmers from around the world. Let’s encourage and pray for one another as we share the seeds of change we are planting. Share your seeds with us on social media using the hashtag #tgtreachformore.

Lindsay Hufford is a small-scale farmer, home educator, chicken chaser, kitchen dancer, and mediocre knitter. Her favorite things include spending time with her family, exploring the natural world, reading, eating spicy food, and singing loudly in the car (to the embarrassment of her children). Lindsay believes sharing our stories will change the world. She writes about farming, homeschooling, faith, mental health, sobriety, and living an unconventional life. You can follow her adventures at peckandpetalfarm.com.

Photograph © Joshua Lanzarini, used with permission