"Let it Grow"

I took my boys to see The Lorax last week. There’s an old-timey theatre in Kannapolis that we like to go to. I appreciate the history of the building, but I appreciate their low ticket prices even more! (It only cost $10 for all three of us!) The Lorax is based on a book by Dr. Seuss with the same name, and the plot is basically about a world where all of the trees have been cut down to make way for progress. There is a character, however, who is in possession of the very last tree seed – and he entrusts it to a little boy who is determined to plant it in the middle of town so everyone can see it. Of course, there is a “villain” who is making money by selling clean air and stands to lose everything if there are trees producing clean air for free.  The climax of the movie takes place in the center of town as he and the boy face off with everyone watching to determine the fate of this seed…and a musical number begins called “Let it Grow.”  It includes various townspeople singing about why they should let it grow – from 3 year old Marie to Granny Norma to Ben and Rose whose “son Wesley kinda glows.” The song stuck with us because there’s a verse where the villain, Mr. O’Hare sings, but changes the words to “Let it die.” My boys thought that was hilarious, you-tubed the video, and recorded it to my phone as a ringtone! There was one phrase, however, from the song that jumped out at me, and I have been thinking about it all week long. 

Disclaimer: If at this point you are tempted to stop reading because you think this will be the rantings of a crazy tree-hugger or a post about saving trees, let me reassure you that I do have a spiritual thought unrelated to environmentalism!

The phrase is this, “Let it grow, let it grow, you can’t reap what you don’t sow…”  What caught my attention is that these are Bible words…well, almost. Let me put it in context: The Bible says that whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.  If we sow to the flesh, we reap corruption. The admonition is to sow to the spirit. (see Galatians 6:7,8) I have heard my fair share of sermons and messages and devotionals about sowing and reaping, but I’ve never heard it reworded in the negative. Yes, it is true that you reap what you sow, but it is also true that you CAN’T reap what you DON’T sow. (This is bringing back memories of Mrs. Jone’s geometry class and rules about p’s and q’s and whether or not p implies q… but that’s beside the point. )   Like I said, this phrase has been stuck in my head this week, and ironically, the Holy Spirit has used it to really make a point to me about growing in Christ.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I look at the fruits of the spirit – or even spiritual qualities I see in the lives of others – and I really wish those fruits were more evident in my life. Maybe it’s a closer intimacy with Christ, a better prayer life, a more disciplined quiet time…sometimes it’s just something as “simple” as love, joy and peace. The thought struck me last week, if those are the fruits I want to “reap,” what am I doing to cultivate those in my life?  This reminded me also of the parable of the sower and the different kinds of soil.  Usually when we hear messages about this, we picture four different kinds of people and whether or not they receive God’s Word leading to salvation, but the truth is, sometimes my heart is all of those types of soil at one time or another.   I’ll be honest, Sunday morning during church, I struggled with having thorns and weeds in my soil. The message was good, but I was having so much trouble concentrating because of all of the other thoughts that kept entering my heart and competing for my attention!  Sometimes I’ve hardened my heart in an area, and until I’m broken, any messages or passages of Scripture about that area fall on deaf ears. There have been times when I have been so “dry” spiritually that things just kind of stay on the surface – like the stony ground – the Word of God didn’t even get a chance to really take root and ends up withering before it can produce any fruit in my life.  What am I doing to make sure that seeds can take root in good soil and grow and produce fruit in my life? I can’t reap what I don’t sow. What kinds of seeds am I sowing in my life? The Word of God? Worldly thoughts and philosophies? My own selfish desires? Am I letting anything else take root in my heart?  What am I doing to keep the soil prepared and fertile?  There’s a verse in Psalms that has always kind of fascinated me. Psalm 86:11 says, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your  truth; Unite my heart to fear your name.”  The idea of uniting something we think of as being singular in nature is what is so remarkable to me, but David is right on. My heart is so divided sometimes. God, take this mess of soil that is my heart – the stony areas, the hard areas, the weedy areas – and unite it all. Make it all fertile ground that is capable of producing fruit. Plant those seeds in my life and help me to nurture them so that they can grow.