Meditation: The Seed Shop

 

The seed shop by Muriel Stuart

 

Here, in a quiet and dusty room, they lie,

Faded as crumbled stone or shifting sand,
Forlorn as ashes shrivelled, scentless, dry -
Meadows and gardens running through my hand.
In this brown husk, a dale of hawthorn dreams,
A cedar in this narrow cell is thrust.
It will drink deeply of century’s streams,
These lilies shall make summer on my dust.
Here in their safe and simple house of death.
Sealed in their shells, a million roses leap.
Here I can blow a garden with my breath,
And in my hand a forest lies asleep.

Meditation

We too are the the fruit of biological seeds sown by our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and on and on. Back and back the lineage goes, species by species to the first spark of life on Earth.

We sow in turn into generations yet unborn. Life to life in one endless chain of humanity.

But to what end? Just more biology?

Words too are seeds. We hear them and see them. But what fruit do they bear?

“You have the words of eternal life”, Peter said to Jesus

These words of eternal life we too may hear - seeds that fall into our minds. What fruit do they bear?

Jesus told this seed story:

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed,

• Some fell along the path, and birds came and ate it up.
• Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
• Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
• Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

“Listen to what the parable of the sower means:

• When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it,the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
• The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
• The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
• But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”