So how was y’all’s week? Mine was weird, but good. My kids were in Camp Motion at our church (it’s sort of like VBS, but it runs from 9-5) all last week. I spent a good number of hours working on my book about women in ministry. I’m trying to get it done in time for my oldest daughter’s twelfth birthday (2 years from now). We’ll see if it happens. I have to admit it’s both something I love working on and hate at the same time. I find myself regularly wanting to tear my hair out because I’m frustrated with the lack of basic good scholarship–it seems like common sense that using circular arguments, straw men, and defining terms one way but using them a different way should really be out, right?
Anyway! That particular project always makes me more determined to be wise about how I use God’s Word. In her chapter on Psalm 126, Beth Moore talks about the difference between eating the seed and planting it (Stepping p, 81). Her example came from a conversation with an aid worker in a third world country. He was talking about how one of the hard things is watching people be so hungry that when they’re given aid in the form of seed to plant, they eat instead. There’s a disconnect (and desperation, I’m sure) between being able to eat today vs. planting it and getting a harvest that will last for months. It’s got to be hard. I was reading Robinson Crusoe to my kids and thinking how hard it’d be to plant corn over and over for 11 years without eating any of it, just so you could be sure you had enough to plant the following year AND eat some.
Beth Moore talks about how we treat God’s Word the same way. We get the seed, and we get all emotional about whatever it is. We hear it and think about how awe-inspiring it is, etc., etc., but we don’t take time to plant it. By plant it, I mean apply it to our daily lives. If we apply God’s Word, it reaps a harvest every day. If we get emotional about it without applying it, we’re changed in that moment, but then the feelings (and change) fades.
I know I’m guilty of that. There have been plenty of times when I hear something and think how life-change it is, but don’t actually do the work to let it change my life. For instance, I know that putting stillness and time to process into my day every day is key for my emotional health. Do I actually do the work by putting it in there? Some days, but more often than not, no. At least not lately.
What things in your life are you eating instead of planting, and what would it look like to actually plant them?
