We never know when we are planting seeds.
Last Sunday at church, right after we began singing our first praise song, a young family slipped in and sat in the pew in front of us. They had two young girls with them and they were clearly tired and frazzled.
The older of the two girls sat down beside her mama, but the younger one rolled around in the pew, much to her daddy’s dismay. He handed her a pen and his bulletin, but she wasn’t interested in singing or sitting down. When the song ended and we were asked to greet one another I leaned over and asked her what she was going to be for Halloween. She grinned and said, “Supergirl.”
I smiled, remembering those days.
We sang more songs and she squirmed more. When it was time for the offering, I leaned over and handed her a visitor’s card that I had drawn a jack-o’-lantern on. She was delighted and ran over to show her daddy. Later, she left her seat and went up the aisle. Her parents were not amused and I’m sure they wished that had have been able to sit further towards the back. During our final song, the little girl gave me a picture she had drawn on the bulletin. I smiled and thanked her. She grinned proudly and then she went off to children’s church.
Her parents visibly relaxed.
I thought of that little girl during the entire service and how hard it can be to parent young children. I remembered the days of trying to get my own kids dressed and out the door for church. I remembered being stressed and annoyed and sometimes even questioning if taking them to church was worth the hassle. Were they learning anything at all?
Of course in hindsight, it was absolutely worth it. I will never regret taking our children to church even if some of those Sundays were complete chaos. I’m a big believer in planting seeds and there’s not much more fertile ground than the hearts of littles.
After we sang our last song, I went over to those young parents and said hello. I told them they were doing a great job. The mom seemed surprised. I told them that I remembered how hard it was to get little ones to church and I remembered the stress and the rushing. She nodded and agreed that it was hard. I assured them that these days will fly by and what they were doing mattered. They seemed truly grateful to hear those few small words of encouragement.
As I look at my gift of art from a restless child, I am reminded that being a part of the Body of Christ is so much more than showing up to church, singing a few songs and leaving. It’s about seed planting. We all are given many opportunities to plant seeds. Will they be seeds of encouragement, kindness and affirmation or seeds that foster doubt and judgement, or will we decide not to plant anything at all and just stand by in silence?
A little girl reminded me that we all need to be in the seed planting business. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an Awesome Day!
Wendy 🙂