Do you still enjoy the whirlybird/helicopter seeds that are dropped from maple trees? I think that it’s neat how they are designed to use their wings to fall farther from the tree into a place where they can grow. Not all grow into trees of course; only those that find the right soil, water, sunlight, fertilizer etc. get the opportunity to regenerate. It’s interesting how it all has to come together. It falls from the tree, lays on the ground, shrivels, gets blown around, wet, snowed on, and waits perhaps for a long time until it gets into the fertilized soil deep enough to geminate. Even then, it takes the right environment over time to become the full grown adult that it was designed to be. When this all happens however, the results are magnificent! Just look at an adult maple and think of the small, dead seed that it started from. Amazing.
When you were young, do you remember believing that God was real? Did you just, “know” that He was there and felt Him inside? Perhaps over time, some things have taken that faith and feeling away. Many of us, “fall from the tree” into an environment that hinders growth. As far as our relationship with God is concerned, we become shriveled, brown and dormant. Is this you? If so, the key words, (and answers!) are dormant and environment. Taking your dormant seed out of the packet and planting it in fertile conditions makes ALL the difference. Maybe you were a sprout that grew a little and stopped. Either way, the growing conditions can be changed and the magnificence that you were created to be can still happen! But you need to change the environment.
The first and most important change is in your heart. You have to prepare it by wanting God to come in and regenerate you. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says: “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” This will give back that, “feeling” you once knew! Then by reading what God has to say to you (Try the New Testament) you will get back to just, “knowing” He is there again. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans. 10:17. God also says that, “iron sharpens iron” which means that being with like Spirited people (Church or a Godly friend) will increase your growth.
Do you remember how good it felt when God was real to you? How hard is the shell around YOUR seed? How fertile is then environment that you are living in? What will it take for the shell to be broken open and for you to be regenerated, live again and grow into what you were designed to be? Ask the giant maple that towers above if it was worth it. Something to think about…
“What’s your father’s occupation?” asked the school secretary on the first day of the new academic year. “He’s a magician, Ma’am” said the new boy. “How interesting. What’s his favorite trick?” “He saws people in half.” “Gosh! Now, next question. Any brothers or sisters?”
“One half brother and 2 half sisters.”
God doesn’t have half children, step-children or grandchildren. Just children. Are you one? Lighthouse of Faith, 141 E. Main St. in Canton, (across from Acorn Mkt.) wants you and your family just as you are. Services are Sun. at 10:30 am. Call 570-673-5912 or visit www.lighthousecanton.com Until next time, look up and smile!