Sprouting the Good Word

No more junk food! I promised myself I'd do better, so I went to the farmer's market. Intrigued by a lush display of green sprouts, I made the decision to grow them myself and found a seed-sprouting kit on clearance. The tag read,   "$2.48 As is." 

Was something missing? I opened the box, inspecting the contents: 1 lid, 2 sprouting trays, 1 water reservoir. Nothing was broken and the seed packets were intact. The only thing missing were the instructions. However, as I turned the box over, I saw small photographs showing how the seeds were placed in the trays. 

 When I got home, I spread the tiny seeds in the growing trays, sprinkled water through the lid, and watched it drip into each chamber. There. In a few days, I'd have my own delicious sprouts. Each day, I watched. And waited.  
             Day 1: I kept the seeds moist, rinsing them at two different times. 
             Day 2: Two tiny seeds sprouted! I added water to the trays.
             Day 3: Disappointment! Only a few more seeds had sprouted. What was taking so long? 
            Day 4: Double disappointment! According to a website, the seeds should have sprouted by now, but less than a handful of mine taken root. Having saved the packaging, I found the problem: the seeds were expired. No wonder they hadn’t grown!

 My sprout-growing experience reminded me of Jesus' parable about seeds in Matthew 13:27: “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?”

 Jesus told them an enemy did this. The servants asked Jesus if they should go pull up the weeds, but Jesus told them not to, for in doing so, they might pull up the wheat with the weeds. He said the two would grow together until harvest, when the weeds would be gathered and burned, and the wheat would be gathered and brought into the barn.

 I didn't realize until it was too late that my "As is" sprouting kit was defective. I had not sown good seed. Perhaps the seeds might have been good at an earlier date, but now, they had been dormant too long.  

The next time I went shopping, I was careful to look for good seeds and I succeeded in growing the sprouts—good nutrition to my body. "Good seed" is a reminder for my spiritual life, too. I don't want to be "spiritually dormant" like the expired seeds that will not grow.  

May God's Word continue to sprout in our lives to keep us spiritually healthy! (And a bit of greenery in our diet will serve us well, too!)  

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