Created for More
The capacity of a seed is truly a remarkable thing. I’m sure you’ve seen many seeds in your life, whether you are enjoying a nutritious piece of fruit or cutting up some fresh veggies to eat. Seeds come in all shapes and sizes. The next time you eat an apple, take one of its seeds and put it aside. It’s hard to imagine that everything that a seed needs is packed inside of it! It relies on the conditions of the soil and temperature for it to germinate and grow.
Before I go any further, I must write this disclaimer: I am not, by any means or stretch of the imagination, an expert when it comes to gardening or keeping plants alive. I struggle with keeping succulents alive, if you want me to be real!
I love the illustration and visual understanding of how a seed contains all that it needs to grow in order to become all that it was created to be.
As we journey through this year together, believing that we are “fashioned for a purpose” and “created for more”, it excites me because the God-sized dreams and potential in all of us are bigger and better than what we could ever imagine or think. Let the seed be a reminder of God’s timing. He designed each of us to grow and bear fruit in our lives for the Kingdom of God.
The apple tree is one simple example of God’s design and process. It’s hard to believe how a tiny seed can grow into a beautiful apple tree, producing an average of 10-20 bushels each season. Every apple has seeds inside for planting and producing more trees. As I was reading about the process of the apple tree, I discovered that it takes an average of four to five years for an apple tree to produce fruit. An apple tree can also produce about 300 apples in its season. Do you want to know how many seeds that equals? That is about 1,500 seeds! That number grows and has the potential of 450,000 apples which will produce a potential of 2,250,000 seeds. Each of those seeds can grow into another apple tree and that cycle is repeated.
It is amazing what ONE seed can do! What is even MORE amazing is the potential of just ONE person who surrenders completely to God.
You are created for MORE because there is MORE inside of you than you know. We all have the capacity to grow and develop just like an apple tree. When we are rooted and established in God’s love, nothing can stop us. Ephesians 3:17 reads,
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith.
And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love."
What is in YOU holds everything you need for your destiny and purpose to unfold. What holds us back from becoming all that God has created for us are our choices and decisions to be ALL IN.
We must surrender everything to become more like Him.
When our prayer becomes, I want to be more like Jesus and less of me, that’s the prayer and place where we grow. Ephesians 3:20 says,
“Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us.”
If we allow God to grow us, prune us, and fill us, we will GROW like trees of righteousness that are deeply rooted and connected to bear good fruit in EVERY SEASON.
We are not limited to bearing fruit in only ONE season. It’s in every season of life.
There will be seasons that won’t be easy to push through and there will be seasons of pruning. If we hold onto to Jesus, these seasons will produce MORE than what was being produced in the seasons before.
Those who flourish also endure the pruning process.
We get to choose how much we want to grow. Have you reached a level of growth in your life and become content? Or have you allowed the Lord to prune what needs to be cut off, trusting Him that it is for your good and that it will result in a deeper understanding and expansion of who He has created you to be?
If you are in the pruning season, hold on. It is going to be worth it. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
God’s promises will never fail. They are always true. Isaiah 61:3 says,
“He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His own glory.”
If you are going through a storm and feel like it’s beating you on all sides, know that the storm that was sent to try to take you out will be the storm that will make you stronger.
Did you know that if you compare a tree that has never been exposed to the severe elements of weather to one that has been exposed, you will discover that it doesn’t have the same root system? When a tree is affected and goes through a storm, its roots grow deeper into the soil, making the tree more secure and strong.
Allow your roots to expand and grow deeper in the storms of life. The purpose and destiny that God has for you do not end in the storm. The storm will position you right where you need to be for God to launch you into a new season that will require the roots and growth you will develop in the storm.
You have the capacity for the “MORE” that God is calling you to. You are created for MORE and all that you need is already within you.
So, every time you come across a seed, be reminded of the capacity and potential to grow and bear good fruit!
May you be rooted and established in love today.
-Bethany Marshall
