The Hope of a Seed

I like seeds, all kinds of seeds.  I love the process of watching/helping them grow.  There is great satisfaction and joy that I get through the entire process from seed to sprout, to plant, to flower, to fruit.  I'm not a master at what I do, but I enjoy it immensely. 

At last year's Women's Conference a speaker used an analogy I'd never thought of before.  I wish I could remember the class or the speaker, but I can't.  I'm grateful the idea has stuck with me.  She pointed out that in order for a seed to become what it was meant to become, it had to be willing to be destroyed.  If it held on to what it currently was and fought against the changes that were meant to occur, it could never grow into the plant it had the potential to become.  The new life is fragile, but exciting.  Given enough time, sunlight, water, and nutrients it has the potential to become a full grown plant that not only has the strength to grow, but also to produce fruit and seeds of it's own.

We are like that seed- put here on this earth to grow into something infinitely more grand than we can currently see or even imagine.  Sometimes it's hard.  Sometimes it might hurt.  Sometimes it is beautiful.  Even the very first evidences of growth are more majestic and complex than the original seed.  Each the smallest bit of further growth is cause for excitement as it brings us one step closer to the being we were meant to become.  Someday, given enough time, experience, patience, and effort we have the potential to become just like our Father who planted us here.

I also like the idea that Heavenly Father is up there tending to this large garden of his which happens to include me.  I like to think that he watches me sprout, produce new leaves, mature and begin to flower and bear fruit.  He knows why I was planted and what He hopes me to become.  My job is to give myself over to the process and grow, fulfill my purpose her, and bear all the fruit I was meant to bear.

The Savior was, as in everything, the perfect example of losing himself in the process of fulfilling his mission and becoming who He was meant to be.

"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (John 6:38)

Everything He did was to please the Father and accomplish His mission of atoning for the sins of the world.  And, He did it.  And, I am eternally grateful.  Because, as much as we'd like to avoid it, we're all going to make mistakes while growing.  He lives again and wants nothing more than for us to return home.  The Saviors atonement allows us to repent, change, and get back to the true business of becoming that being we are meant to become.  As long as we keep trying, there is hope.  That is the beautiful message of Easter.