Estimated Reading Time 7 Minutes
Hey You! I’m Emily Romrell and this is The Vibrant Life Podcast. I hope y’all have had a great week. I always look forward to Fridays and a new episode. I think about you listeners during the week and I’m frequently sending you happy thoughts. I think it’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day grind, but it’s my hope that for these few minutes each week that we can focus on meaningful things and feel rejuvenated.
How’s your Summer going? I love this time of year. I love the sunshine and watching things grow. Right now gardens are at their peak, at least ours is. We’re enjoying the zucchini, peppers, beans, etc. that we planted a few months ago. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I love plants and the lessons that they can teach us. So today, we’re talking about Planting Seeds.
When I was in kindergarten, we planted bean seeds and watched them sprout. I remember being so excited watching the plant grow. I think a lot of kids do that experiment when they’re young.
I felt the same excitement recently when I decided to try and grow an avocado plant from the pit out of the fruit from the grocery store.
(And FYI, avocados are actually considered berries. In botanical language, a berry is a simple fruit having seeds and fleshy pulp produced from the ovary of a single flower. So if you’re ever in a debate, there you go.)
I’ve kind of felt like a five-year-old again watching this new plant grow. Beans will sprout in just a few days, and avocados take a few weeks but the magic is the same. It’s captivating and the joy that I’m experiencing in watching this simple plant grow is wonderful. You can see some pics in the show notes if you’re interested. And if you’re really into it, you should definitely try to grow one yourself. I’ll put a link with instructions in the show notes as well.
In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, we talk about planting seeds a lot, usually in connection with missionary work. Sometimes people aren’t ready to accept the gospel but they resonate with some of the ideas and concepts we teach them. Then after some time, those seeds will grow and develop until they are more ready at a future date. And the timing is different with everyone because all of us are unique and we each progress in life at our own pace.
I’ve felt this in different degrees in my own life. Sometimes I accept ideas right away, but more often it takes some pondering on my part for concepts to take root and grow into habits that I actually implement in my daily life. I noticed this a lot in counseling. I would discuss something that I wanted to change or maybe my counselor would offer a new idea and it was hard to accept at first. But as I contemplated what we talked about I was more open and those ideas would really take hold. As I continued to think things through I would often find even more meaning and more layers of understanding would unfold.
As humans, we are resistant to change. I personally can be extremely stubborn even when I know a change would be good for me. Because it’s one thing to know something in your head and another thing entirely to let a principle grow in your heart. And the magic really happens when you take action and eventually get some fruit.
In the Book of Mormon, a prophet named Alma compares faith to a seed. I usually don’t read scriptures in this podcast because I love listeners of all backgrounds, even those who aren’t LDS. But I’m going to read to you because I think there’s a lot of power in these words. This is an excerpt from Alma chapter 32 verses 26-34.
26 Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words
28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.
29 Now behold, would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.
30 But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow.
31 And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness.
32 Therefore, if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away.
33 And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.
34 And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.
There are a lot of things that I love about these scriptures but maybe my favorite is that everything starts with a simple desire, a desire to know if something is true. And the promise is that if we let that desire work in us and grow then if it’s good it will take root and bear good fruit, and if it’s bad then it will waste away. This test works not only for trying faith in the gospel, but it is a great way to find out all sorts of truth, knowledge, and correct principles.
Some of the best seeds to plant however are not ideas or principles but relationships, specifically friendships. You know, one thing I’ve come to understand is that first impressions don’t mean much. Even if someone gives a great first impression, people have so many layers to them. Each of us is so special and unique that it’s impossible to grasp the potential of a relationship at first glance.
One of the truest joys in life is allowing a seed of friendship into your heart and watching that relationship grow into something beautiful. And sadly, we miss opportunities because we’re too busy judging others, or maybe just too busy in general. I think it’s easy to see the potential in a baby, right? Babies are bundles of pure potential. Sometimes we forget that every soul carries the same amount of potential even if they are now an adult. Let’s work on that.
We all need as many friends as we can get and each relationship is special in its own way. And as the seeds of friendship grow into strong bonds, it is truly wonderful to see how the relationship blossoms in new and unexpected ways. Because as individuals we continually grow and evolve which allows our relationships to grow and evolve.
I’ve heard stories of scientists finding ancient seeds and bringing back plants that were thought to be extinct for thousands of years. It’s pretty amazing that a seed held that potential inside for ages and all it needed was the right conditions to bring life to something that we thought was lost.
This brings us to taking action, right? Seeds are useless unless they are put into the correct conditions to allow growth. Seeds need fertile soil, they need water, and they need sunlight. Similarly, new ideas, concepts, or relationships are useless unless we provide room in our hearts for them to grow. We need to support each other. Have you ever felt tired or frustrated and then after spending time with someone special you feel refreshed? Like your soul just got a much-needed drink of water? We fill each other’s cups or flower pots through service, friendship, and love.
And all seeds need light. I believe Heavenly Father provides the light of understanding when we are true and sincere in our desires. We can’t ignore ideas or avoid relationships thus keeping them in the dark and expect them to grow. We need to shine a light so the seeds can take root and the plants can prosper.
Sometimes it takes a while to crack the shell. Seeds are hard little buggers. I love the quote that says, “Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.” It can take a lot of effort and work to push through into the light.
But I believe that even if we are struggling in the dark for a while, our hearts will know a good seed when it’s been planted. It’s so important not to give up. And it’s important to take time to look into our hearts and trust our instincts and feelings.
There are so many different kinds of seeds you can plant in your life. There are seeds of healthy habits like exercise and good nutrition, seeds of learning and the love of knowledge, seeds of organization like keeping a clean house, seeds of self-love and compassion. It’s important to put ourselves into situations where we can continue to grow.
All good seeds eventually bear delicious fruit. Life truly becomes sweet and vibrant when we allow good seeds room in our hearts. My challenge this week is to take some time and see what seeds you might like to plant into your life. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Like we read in Alma, it can begin with a simple desire. But good desires grow into great things. Take care and have a fabulous week everybody!
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