Planting

When I was a kid my parents always had a rather large vegetable garden. There were only three of us so the fact that we had a large garden is in itself kind of peculiar to me but at least at the time it seemed really big. I remember Daddy using a push plow after the whole area had been tilled and cleared. The purpose of that plow at least in my memory was to make the rows the seeds would be planted in. I can still feel the packed dirt under my bare feet when I followed Daddy up and down the rows careful to step only in his big boot prints. It was a game for me and I'm quite sure it was somewhat of a nuisance to my dad who's playful voice would call back over his shoulder..."if I needed you to do something useful you wouldn't be anywhere in sight". Oh, but I wanted to do something useful...it's just that as soon as he'd give me a real job I'd see a butterfly that needed catching or the perfect June plum that a great adventurous climb would retrieve and off I'd go. I loved to walk behind him and as long as nothing else caught my attention I'd be right there for rows and rows. Sometimes, he would get to the end of row making and pull a tiny brown paper bag out of his pocket and put a few smooth seeds in my hand...I guess this was his idea of letting me do something useful. He'd tell me to put two seeds together and then skip a space and put two more. This was the highest of responsibilities for me. I was actually helping plant! Then he'd give me my own paper cup and a bucket and we'd put water on each new little seed family. Then he'd go back with his push plow and cover up all the seeds in the row. I'd lose interest in the garden long before the first beans and peas could be harvested but this planting thing really was fun.
I wonder now that I am an adult if Daddy was just pacifying me or if he knew what he was doing. By letting me walk in his boot prints, and putting those seeds in my hand, he was teaching me about God. He didn't say it with words but he showed me that if we step in our father's footprints, and hold out our hands, he'll give us seeds to plant in the rich soil of people's lives. Carefully placed seeds will in time bear fruit. I haven't matured much in the patience department so waiting is still hard but I'm learning to stay and watch.
Someday there will be a great harvest, I hope I hear my heavenly father say that I was useful to him. I'm looking forward to that harvest.