Rhonda Quaney: Seeds Of Greatness

Pudgy red vested robins have been hanging around the neighborhood for weeks. We began to wonder if the bitter snow-laced winds, had driven the birds involuntarily like a feathered cloud from the southern skies. Yet their presence reminds us of the promise that spring could not be far behind their arrival. The ditch slopes also hint spring and the first slivers of green glistened with frost in morning light.

Then the miracle happened.

On the side of the house a single tulip pushed through and began to flutter with promise. As if it were no big deal to press open its face of blushing pink bloom to the sky.

It is the craziest thing. In the rock-hard bed-rock... where nothing else grows.... every. single. year. ....this single bulb pushes, pushes, pushes forth from between concrete foundation, black weed barrier and large river stones to insist on being what it was created to be.

A single unseen bulb.

If chipped from the dark clay, you could hold in your hand what appears to be a simple seed. Yet beneath it's layers are weaved every component needed to be transformed with just a little encouragement - - transformed to a tender flower with intense colors, textures and glorious curves that cannot be made by a man.

Within the seed sleeps greatness that cannot be suppressed.

Like an acorn seed. A tiny pod that you can hold in the palm of your hand, which appears to be a small thing. Yet within the hard shell sleeps a mighty oak tree that is able to grow up to be over 100-feet of strength and beauty. A magnificent living, breathing thing that offers protection to animals and birds while children can swing freely from its branches.

Just as life begins with one quivering nuclei. A singular complex simple cell, that is germinated and then divides into two. The tender living cell that continues to divide and grow in a mothers womb until one day she feels the flutter of that life. And the child is eventually bore forth so you see and touch them. But that isn't the end. Like a tender shoot the child grows in stature and grace and one day leaves home. So what began as a single tender cell grows to be an adult.

Within each and every single life are the seeds of greatness.

And great dreams begin like a single cell. A tiny seed planted in the heart. A single thought or desire that multiples and grows as we allow the dream to take root.

These sleeping seedling dreams are planted in the hearts of men by the One-who-never-slumbers, Creator God.

Yes, within every single person born, is an image-bearing design, that waits to be tapped into.

Dormant dreams waiting to be awakened and lived out. Talents, skills, abilities and experiences waiting to do great exploits for the kingdom.

God actually planted in us seeds of creativity and greatness, so that we would dream these dreams. So that we might pray to Him about them, so He could fulfill them in us.

Yes it is a crazy truth.

That when we were knit together, all things needed for this, were already weaved within us.

And it's never too late to start living dreams.

Like my grandma who loved me -just for me, she took up painting in her retirement years. I'm so grateful she finally woke up that creative part of life. There is a friend who never lifted her voice in song and then found out that not only could she make a joyful noise, but that she had an amazing, strong beautiful voice. And just last week I saw a woman whom I have known for decades yet hardly recognized her. She had lost almost 200 pounds and was now doing 5K runs. Oh glory be that they did not pass from this earth into eternity before finding freedom and breaking open the seeds of their dreams.

You may not be who people say you are. You probably aren't who you think you are. Unless we are looking through the God-lens of life how can we know who we are?

And stop it already.

Stop listening to those ugly voices in our heads, that say we will never be enough, that rehearse how we have failed so many times now it is laughable, or that it's too late now anyway....

You.

You are indeed a holy wonder, with seeds planted in you, to be more than you are able to see in your mirror reflection.

God placed dreams in you to create, so that you could dream and be creative.

In the palm of your hand. What do you hold?

A seed?

A seed that has sleeping within it... a mighty oak, a graceful willow, a sturdy birch tree.

And for every single acorn seed, only God knows how many oak trees lie within it.

For every single seed that falls to the ground only He knows what kind of harvest will spring forth.

The unspoken wonder that this single tulip declares, is fresh hope into a life that sometimes feel like an airplane, banking a desperate right angle, to avoid hitting the mountain that lies directly ahead.

We need to pray too, that we can overcome the challenges, the obstacles, and the doubts so we can prosper in spite of the odds stacked upon us. All so that we can become everything the Lord created us to be.

No.

No.

It’s not too late.

Photo Credit

The tulip testimony that is screaming quietly from the rock garden of how one glorious seed, buried deep, pressed down under heavy obstacles can push forth new life.

Within you sleeps greatness that cannot be suppressed.

Greatness designed for His glory.

Walking out the days after Easter and linking up with A Holy Experience