From nothing to something beautiful

By Jessica Brodie

A few weeks ago, when my son was confirmed in our church, the church gave each student a gift. It’s a small ceramic planter with the theme for confirmation, “Grow,” printed on the outside with our theme Scripture, and a little packet of seeds, soil, and some directions.

The idea is that each kid would take it home, plant the seeds, nurture them, and watch them grow. Eventually, they’ll turn into a flower.

I don’t have a green thumb, and my son isn’t terribly interested in gardening, but we took it home and followed the directions. We let the little soil pod sit in a cup of water till it expanded, then we massaged it gently, breaking it open into the pot. Then we delicately nestled the seeds into the soil and put it in a nice, cozy spot where sunlight would reach it every day.

A few days later, we were so excited to see tiny sprouts popping out of the soil! We’re supposed to keep checking the soil, water it as needed, and eventually have a lovely flower plant to show for our work.

Of course, there’s a deeper meaning. The process—planting, nurturing, sprouting, blossoming—is all supposed to be an analogy for what the kids are going through in their own faith journey. Through confirmation, they learned a bunch of important things about being a disciple of Jesus Christ, then officially joined the church. That’s definitely something to celebrate.

But it’s not supposed to stop there—confirmation is only a beginning.

Same with other important faith milestones: when we accept Jesus as our savior, or get baptized or confirmed, or join a church, it’s the beginning, not the culmination.

As a follower of Christ, there’s no finish line. Jesus didn’t say believe in me and that’s it, the end. We are called to do more—to spread the Gospel so others know, too. To serve others in His name. To love others as ourselves. To put God first in our life.

We don’t just stop at the milestone. Our faith journey is just that: a journey, a lifetime of new steps and new growth.

Just like seeds planted in soil, there is more to come. We must nurture and grow our faith so we can blossom for God. That means “watering” our soil with encouragement, truth, knowledge and other live-giving practices, such as going to church, reading the Bible, surrounding ourselves with other Christian believers, and doing our best to get rid of any toxic evils in our life.

Faith is a journey, not a destination.

The apostle Paul knew this all too well. After he came to know Christ, Paul spent his entire life doing all he could to spread the word about Jesus and teach others to follow the Christian way. And Paul also modeled what that looked like. He wrote repeatedly about the need for all Christians to do just that—discipline themselves to become as much like Jesus as they could. That process, of becoming more like Christ, is called sanctification, and while none of us can ever be perfect, all of us who believe in Christ should try to model our lives after Him.

Paul compared it to the training done by athletes, only for the spirit.

“All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:25-27 NLT).

We all start out like tiny seedlings nestled in soil. Sometimes that soil is healthy, but it gets poisoned when bad things are poured into it. Other times we’ve never had healthy soil and must take steps to root ourselves in an environment that helps us grow.

But hopefully, we eventually sprout and flourish, transform in our faith from nothing into something beautiful for the eternal glory of God our Father.

Think about it: Are you in healthy “soil” right now? Is there something in your life that is poisoning your soil that needs to go?

In just a few days, we’ll celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus, our savior. He was born into poverty—truly humble beginnings. Instead of a palace, his young mother birthed him in a stable and laid him in a manger. Shepherds, not princes, were the first to come before him and kneel.

And yet the Savior of the World, the Son of the Almighty God, Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Word Become Flesh… he was born as a man. His roots as that tender, vulnerable infant were like those tiny seeds my son and I planted in our confirmation pot. And now, Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father, and His kingdom will know no end.

We’re not Jesus. But in Him, in the glorious, everlasting strength we find in Christ, the apostle Paul writes, “We can do all things” (Philippians 4:13 ESV).

Embrace your faith journey. Who knows what kind of flower you’ll become in God’s glorious Kingdom?

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