Seeds are remarkable. You can walk all over them and not know they are there. You can fail to see them, ignore them and throw them away and they will still amaze you by making a come-back.
I walked across the top corner of our plot of ground, a dry area devoid of hospitality. On it grew a lone tree which led to my thoughts about seeds.
This tree had been a living, black seed hidden in a pot plant I had brought from my old home to this place. But its origin went back further than that to my Mother’s garden. The pot plant had long ago come from her garden that held the original seed of the tree now growing in our top corner.
The seed had lain unknown and dormant for years and had finally been unwittingly discarded in this tough corner. Now I walked beneath it on the dry, lifeless ground because it is a tree that grows in hard, inhospitable places. It is often stunted by its environment but still the food it produces is quality food.
A few weeks later I walked there again and beneath my feet was a carpet of tiny, green trees. Hundreds of seeds had lain on the ground for months then a recent shower of rain had wakened them and they jumped for joy.
These little trees would seek out their place in the world, enduring dry, hard times and then blossom with food for seed-eating birds, food for honey-eating birds and food for pollinating bees. They were also trees that could be lopped to feed cattle and sheep in drought times.
Wherever they grow, these trees are long lasting food producers, nourishing the hungry who come to them for food.
It does not surprise me that ‘the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life’ (Proverbs 11:30), perhaps growing in hard, inhospitable places, or that the Lord of the garden looks for trees like you to sustain life. He said ‘I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.’ (John 15:16).
By Just a Minute team writer Elizabeth Price.
You can contact Elizabeth direct at mailto:reprice@dragnet.com.au