Being God’s Seeds
for the World
Lynne Therese Elwinger, O.C.D.
As I have been reflecting on the world of nature in summer, and on our continuing celebration of our own history this year, I again found a connection with one of my favorite topics – SEEDS. I have always been fascinated with seeds – their many colors, shapes, and sizes and their amazing potential in small packages. But I have found that seeds have a much deeper meaning for me as well. They encompass both the endpoint of one generation and the birthplace of the next. Seeds are a type of living history.
The Living History
We who are currently living our Carmelite lives are also a piece of the living history of our Order. The same is true for all us who are living our lives today with regard to the living history of our families. Each one of us, as does each seed, carries memories of the past, and we each become a hope for the future. In the season of summer, we get to see seeds at both ends of the season – early on in the planting and at the end of the season in the harvesting.
Seeds are surprisingly sturdy, capable of enduring significant adversity with the patient wisdom to await the favorable conditions needed to bring forth new life. Every seed is a vehicle carrying a blueprint of that which created it, a supply of stored food to form the first root, and the capability of sending up a shoot whose leaves will feed on sunlight through photosynthesis. It carries not only the qualities of its general species, but also unique individual qualities from its specific parents and the locality and conditions where it grew.
I can see a lot of parallels between the seeds and ourselves, both as individuals and as representatives of our families, and, in our case, of our religious community’s tradition and history. A group dedicated to saving heirloom seeds used to have as their logo, “from the past for the future” (Seed Savers Exchange). We in the Carmelite Order in general and also in our own Carmelite community in the Davenport Diocese in Iowa, could easily use the same slogan. All people could similarly see their own families’ histories the same way. No matter where seeds are transported, they retain their inner essence, the design of the plant they are destined to become. In the process of sprouting and growing, seeds gradually expend that which gives them the individual identity as seed in order to become mature plants. At maturity, they become seed makers in their own right, and once again have to let go – to send their seeds into the world.
In The Image of God
Likewise, we ourselves are God’s seeds in the world. Deep within each of us is the divine blueprint which carries the essence of our creation “in the image of God”. As we grow and develop in the Christian walk, we learn that within us we have some stored spiritual understanding that can be used to root and ground us in the soil of divine presence. Next we are able to lift our new green shoots up to the sun of inspiration from without, whether from Scripture, from the lives of Saints, from sharing with others, or from the wonders of Creation. By willingly undergoing the many small “deaths” required for our unfolding, we ourselves begin to mature into seed makers and/or food for future generations. We carry God’s living history within our human race one step further on the journey that one day will end with the Reign of God fully present on earth.
Blueprint For Humanity
The journey of becoming seed is one of patient, humble openness to God’s Spirit within and among us. There are no guarantees that it will be easy. But the blueprint is secure within each of us. I think seeds have an easier time knowing and following their inner designs. We tend to complicate the process by trying to direct what is meant to unfold naturally by our fears of the unknown and by trying to imitate others. In the end, all life requires a leap of faith, and indeed many such leaps, and a willingness to be our own unique unrepeatable selves. Whether as food for others, or as seed makers, we can play our part in our Creator’s great unfolding blueprint for humanity. Finding God within, we give evidence in the outer world of “God-with-us”, carrying the memories of all who went before us and acting as signs of hope for those who follow.
Can we once again remember how to open the doors and windows of our souls to welcome in and savor that Divine Presence both within us and entering from the world around us? Can we reconnect to that dimension of the sacred that is intended to be our true dwelling place? When we allow ourselves to be grasped by God, we come home to ourselves in a new way. We emerge changed. Just as seeds change from their original form into the mature plants and then into seed makers in their own right, we too sprout, mature and give something both old and new to the future generations who follow us. Let us give thanks to those who went before us and pray that we can carry the torch forward to the reaching hands of the ones who follow close behind us.
Sr. Lynne Thérèse Elwinger of the Resurrection O.C.D.