237. Within the seed’s case a secret is held. Its fertile whisper shapes a song. ~Joan Halifax

I have great faith in a seed.
Convince me that you have a seed there,
and I am prepared to expect wonders.
~Henry David Thoreau

Image

Shhh!  Can you hear it?  Look at the photos.  This is the hope; this is winter’s promise; this is the fertile whisper!   But wait, everything in the photographs is dried up and brown.  And dead!

Oh do not be deceived by appearances, my friends, for these seed cases are ripe and what they hold is ever so viable!  Their wealth may now be kept inside in secrecy but trust me these cases are vigilant and waiting–waiting for that wondrous moment in time when enough warmth and light and moisture will enliven their songs of fertility.  And then they will split wide open, spill their sacred secrets upon the soil, and spark new life.

David Walters said, “God’s promises are like the stars, the darker the night, the brighter they shine.”  For me seed cases are like God’s promises as well because the deeper and darker winter becomes, the more the expectation of what they hold brightens winter’s cold and forbidding days.  As their sweet melodies take shape, they keep the hopeful dream of spring alive when what I see conveys a story of death and decay.

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.”  ~Genesis 1:29  ✝

9 thoughts on “237. Within the seed’s case a secret is held. Its fertile whisper shapes a song. ~Joan Halifax

  1. Pingback: 237. Within the seed’s case a secret is held. Its fertile whisper shapes a song. ~Joan Halifax | Sacred Touches

  2. Natalie, as one who loves to save my own garden seeds for the next growing season, I especially love this post. We truly cannot judge by appearances. I am grateful for a God who judges by the heart of the matter.

    Blessings for 2014 & always ~ Wendy

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  3. There’s something very touching about seeds and the promise they hold. But this may be the perception of us gardeners – wonder how others (non gardeners) feel when they look at your beautiful pictures?

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    • I like that, Annette, they and their promise are very touching. I hope that any who see my photos would like them enough to have a growing reverence for the earth if they don’t already have one.
      I just posted a new one tonight, #240, that I hope you get a chance to read. I think you’ll like it as much as the one about the seeds. I pray you have a great week, Annette. Blessings, Natalie 🙂

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