The Little Seed that Could

“The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.” (Deuteronomy 28:12, NIV)

In late February I purchased a clump of vine-ripened tomatoes from my local grocer. Since my husband was the only one eating them, one sat in the windowsill until his parent’s visit in early March. Not being a big fan of the mealy fruit (yes, tomato is a fruit/berry scientifically speaking), I was glad to have visitors who liked it with their salad.

I cut into it and was surprised to see that several of its seeds sprouted. Guess that’s what happens when you leave a tomato in the sunlight for more than a week. Maybe this will sound weird to some, but I was elated to see those seeds. Why? I was in the process of overcoming a ton of grief.

The previous four months of my life read like a tragic novel. Two of my husband’s grandparents passed away, both of my dogs died, I left a job to start a business and my dear grandmother was slowly slipping away due to Alzheimer’s. At the time, I was experiencing a season of endings, and there seemed to be no new beginnings in sight.

In my hands, I held seven tiny seeds of hope. I was determined to plant them despite early spring freezes and fully expected them to produce fruit. When I planted them, I prayed they would grow. Again, that may seem silly to some, but I needed something new and good to blossom in my life—even if it was a mere tomato.

Like so many other times, God was good and blessed me. I watched those seeds survive twenty-degree drops, freeze and hail. By the end of March, seven little sprouts broke through the soil. In mid April, I transferred the plants into individual pots, watching them grow inch-by-inch, and that brings me to June.

Over the weekend, I planted the adult plants in two large growing chambers, one inverted and the other an upright pot. All of the plants had flowers on them at the time of transfer, and today I saw my first, baby tomato hanging from the vine.

Why all this fuss about a typical garden plant? Well, it’s not about the tomato, though I’ve never grown them before. To me, it’s about the seed that I planted in faith—hoping for something, anything that would symbolize the start of something new and good.

They were a reminder that everything has a season, and that endings are followed by beginnings. Those seeds survived harsh weather conditions and persevered transitions. In the end, I realized I too would make it through the hardships and see God produce fruit in my life.

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-9, NIV)