From Seed Beginnings to Transformed Finished Work - Lawrence

Which came first, the seed or the full grown plant? From one small seed’s beginnings can grow a plant or creature totally unlike its original seed; and from within that seed is contained, in embryo, the full potential of its being.

During the winter time of cold and snow, we put out feeders filled with seeds for the birds. Yes, our intention was to feed the birds but there were many side effects of this action; many other creatures were fed too.

Red squirrels always find a way to get on the feeders—and, once they are on, they sit there for great expanses of time. It doesn’t matter how annoyed we become at the squirrels’ feasting at the board that was intended for the birds’ satisfaction. Squirrels need food, too, in the scarce, cold times and, if they are artful enough to procure it, who are we to deny them?

Wild Turkeys

Last winter we also had a flock of turkeys that came. They scraped the ground beneath the feeders, eating every last morsel that remained from the feasting of squirrels, the rejected seeds of blue jays, and any that were dropped from beaks of chickadees, goldfinches, and nuthatches.

And yet there had been at least one seed left behind—one seed that had evaded the digging claws of turkeys and the squirrels’ desperate scavenging of any morsel the turkeys may have missed.

In August we saw a plant we recognized as a sunflower by its leaves. It grew tall among the jewel weed beneath the humming bird feeder. The plant, transformed from rejected seed, grew tall and produced three buds at its top. They opened up, one by one, into small seed-centred, yellow-petaled sunflowers.

Black-eyed Susan

So many seeds grew and formed from this one seed left on the ground; one seed transformed into its full beautiful potential of golden hue to delight the human eye, and seeds for the nourishment of many birds and perhaps a chipmunk or two.

With people, too, even if we only produce a small spiritual harvest from all the seeds that were planted in us, still the harvest we produce can serve many who come into contact with us.