One of my missions as a writer, parent, leader, friend, Christ-follower, and caring individual is to plant seeds. Each seed is true to its own nature. When it grows, it matures and bears fruit. Some plants grow faster than others. Christ-followers plant a lot of seeds in their lifetime. Sometimes the seed takes and grows, and sometimes it doesn’t. I see things that concern me, but I can’t plant the seed until it’s the right time.
My farmer dad always said that it’s easy to be a farmer. He said, you only need to know three things. (!!!) What to do. When to do it, and How to do it. That tidbit of wisdom is true for many things. I know it is true in education. You can’t hammer facts into student’s brains when they don’t know the steps that lead up to it. You can’t teach multiplication facts until they’ve mastered addition and subtraction.
A seed planter knows what, when, and how. First the soil is prepared to receive the seed. As Christians, we do this through prayer, conversations, spending time together, reading the word, sharing Christ and whatever God brings along. We pray for opportunities to share, where God makes a way, an opening, to say something spiritually meaningful.
The art of knowing when or when not to speak is a skill refined by the Spirit. Our words flow forth in power when the Spirit of God goes before us, preparing the way for us to speak. At times, our silence says more than our words. We communicate best when we have learned to listen well and respond accordingly.
Twitter Exchange with Sy Garte
Sy Garte is a biochemist scientist, a former atheist turned Christian. He is somewhat new to the faith. God drew him in through curiosity and circumstances. He was raised by communists that didn’t entertain there being a God. Sy has written a book entitled The Works of His Hands and this is my review. His book can be purchased here on Amazon. He also is on several YouTube interviews.
One day I saw Sy’s tweet and took the opportunity to ask him something I’d been thinking about for quite some time.
Twitter, March 10, 2022
SY’s original tweet:
“Dawkins told his followers to reject tolerance for religion, and be evangelists for atheism. Now many new atheists do just that on social media, sometimes with vicious attacks on believers. My own goal is to buttress the faith of Christians, not to attack or convert atheists.”
I respond:
“One can’t help but wonder why Dawkin’s felt and others feel so strongly. When you were an atheist, did you crusade against belief in God, against those who believed? Did you view it as some sort of war? Or were you passive (to each his own), not adamant or defensive nor on the offense.”
SY’s answer:
“Very good question, Norma. Neither I, nor any of the atheists I knew ever went on the attack against people of faith. That is part of what makes “new atheism” new. It has become a crusade, and a very strange one, since it’s not for anything, only against God.”
Sy has to block some atheists when they’re hostile, belligerent, demeaning and/or hateful. Yet, they can’t hear it if their minds can’t or won’t absorb the unwelcome thought. If they’re blocked in their thinking, if they’ve already decided and made their choice to not believe, if they’re happy being an unbeliever, then you learn to pray for openings. The gospel is foolishness to the unbeliever…until a window to their soul starts to open a smidgen.
That is why the soil must be prepared, the seed must be planted at the optimum time–not in the wintertime–in the springtime, in the growing season, when its warm and the sun penetrates the earth. Then the plant is nurtured, irrigated, and left to God to grow until harvest. The growing season is a time of the elements working together to produce a healthy crop. If the agricultural practices are not correctly done then the crop will be puny and weak.
You see, maybe it’s something you said months or years before that is heard coming out of your child’s mouth. Then you know the seed took root, grew, flowered and is bearing fruit. Maybe it’s someone you’re sharing life with on a regular basis. There’s wait time involved, a time of suggesting, growing, learning, apprehending, and sorting through. We may get impatient, but God calls us to be faithful. Ultimately, it’s God who grows until harvest time, and it’s our job to help out.
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I wish you well on your spiritual journey.
