Sower’s Seeds of Encouragement:
100 Stories of Hope, Humor & Healing,
“Back Cover,” Paulist Press, Mahwah, NJ, 1998
download PDF

“A man throws seed on the land.
Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake,
the seed is sprouting and growing;
how, he does not know.”
Mark 4:26-28
 

I believe that this is one of the earth’s finest moments, that the sun lifting yellows and greens into life of tiny poplar leaves is much like God’s own Spirit of love lifting life into me.
I believe that the Word of God has many times been planted in my life, often because of another who received the seed in ready soil, brought forth a harvest, and shared that goodness with me.
I believe I believe that the call to be a sower of the Word is a privilege and a blessing, that no one can ever earn the right to claim the duty, that it is a gift freely given and a ministry to be constantly celebrated in gratitude.
I believe that great things can come forth from even the tiniest seed planted in love and cared for tenderly in the heart of another.
I believe that usually only God knows what sprouting and greening will come from the Word planted through my ministry. I am content in knowing that I have tried, with the Sower’s grace, to seed that Word in faith and with joy.
I believe that even the most insignificant aspects of life can be the seed of God’s gifting, that deeper faith can root and mature in very ordinary soil.
I believe that some dying of seed has to take place before it can give itself over to life, that every heart has its germination time, its dark moment, before the future hallowedness of harvest comes.
I believe I believe that it takes much patience to sow a seed, to freely give it away to the heart of the earth, to allow it to take root and to grow in its own good time.
I believe that my life will always know its season of hope, that I will find flowers after every finality of ice and snow, that I will find green, growing things after every harsh, barren reign of winter’s rage.

and most of all …
I believe in the Sower of all seeds, in the God of Springtime, in the Giver of all good and growing things, my Lord and my God!