Planting

I pass an old house on my way to one of the schools where I substitute teach. This week it has been a beautiful scene.  I couldn’t safely take a picture of it without having to walk a distance so I substituted this picture. The old house I pass has a front porch with sagging roof and rotted steps. The yard is a whole landscape of daffodils rather than just one cluster.

I have wondered about the family or families that once lived in the old house. Who planted the daffodil bulbs? Was it the mother? Did her children help or did she remind them not to trample the flowers? Was there a dog who insisted on digging out her bulbs or deer that ate the plants?  How long ago were they planted?

There is a saying about planting trees.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.”

According to Google it is a Greek proverb and I think one with a great deal of truth.  Trees are planted for the next generation. Those daffodils were enjoyable for the one who planted them, but today they are enjoyed by all who pass by. What beauty! I’m thankful for the person who planted them.

 I don’t know if he or she ever gave a thought to what might become of the daffodils decades after they were planted.  I like to think that person was more concerned about what was planted in the hearts of their children. Trees and flowers planted now can be  enjoyed for generations to come, but seeds planted in our children can blossom for future generations as well and will last forever.

Two important seeds to plant in the hearts of children are love and truth. Children need love and they need to know the One who is Love. God is love and He gave us Jesus and His sacrificial death to prove that love.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). God is the source of all truth.

Parents are responsible for planting those seeds with many others helping to water and nurture them along the way. Whether or not a child’s parents are planting those seeds every adult who interacts with that child can. We may plant love and truth through our actions more than through our words. Jesus gave a strong warning about our interaction with children.

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:5-6).

Here’s a new saying:

A society grows great when the grownups plant seeds of love and truth into the hearts of children and nurture their growth for the next generation.