Nothing Happens Till Something Happens

     "Nothing happens until something happens", well now that sounds all philosophical doesn't it? It also sounds pretty obvious when you read it, yet many times just because we know something that doesn't mean anything is actually going to happen or change. We have to put "legs" on our ideas as an acquaintance recently told me before anything will happen, until then it's all words and thoughts in our head or on a piece of paper. Nothing is going to happen until YOU make something happen.
      Planting season is fast approaching us here in East Tennessee and farmers will soon be planting seeds, sowing crops, and creating beds for other plants and crops. Most farmers would probably agree that the easy part is planting the seeds in the ground, yet that is only the beginning and actually nothing much is going to happen if planting the seed is all the farmer does. Each tiny seed must first experience a dramatic change before growth ever happens. The seed must first "die" or cease to exist in it's previous form before the plant can begin to grow. What happens to the seed when it "dies" is the beginning of life for the plant that will produce the "fruit" it is intended to provide. You see nothing is going to happen with the seed if something doesn't first happen to change the seed.
     Our ideas, plans, and goals are just like those seeds the farmers are planting in the soil. We may have an out of this world idea for a new business, a book idea to write, a community event to sponsor, or an organization to create but it won't happen until something happens to change your idea into an action. You may need to ask someone for forgiveness, or you may need to offer forgiveness to someone, but that won't happen until something first happens inside you. Just as my friend offered me the piece of advice, "sounds like you just need to put legs on that idea" our plans, our ideas, our need to do lists won't become reality until we get up and start making them become reality.
     Like the seed, each of us have something or several somethings inside of us waiting to burst out of our shells into action. We have gifts that need to be shared and fruits that need to be nurtured, yet until something happens inside us that forces those internal thoughts and ideas to become reality they are just like the seed sitting in the bag, nothing more than bean bag filler. A seed has so much more to offer in life. Some of the tiniest seeds become vines that produce juicy melons spreading out across fields, others stalks of corn that stand tall and produce fruit that is then turned into a multitude of everyday commodities. Still other seeds produce trees that provide shelter, homes, fruits, and most importantly oxygen for us to breathe. Seeds are invaluable to the process, yet unless something happens to that seed after it is planted in the ground it will sit there and eventually dry up and wither away never fulfilling it's purpose in life.
       YOU have something or many somethings that you are supposed to do in this life. YOU have ideas that could spread out across the world and provide help to hundreds or thousands of people if only you will nurture your idea. YOU have people you need to reach out to and possibly say "I'm sorry" or "What can I do to help?", but that won't happen unless you do something about it. YOU just like a tree have fruit to bear, don't let your gifts sit cramped up in a seed eager to burst out into action yet forever imprisoned inside a mindset of the fear of failure or the unknown.
     Here is the deal maker of today's motivational thought. We plant the seeds, we water and fertilize the seeds, we weed the garden so that the seeds are not choked out, and we manicure and shape the plants as they grow from a seed so that the plant will have the best opportunity possible to produce it's fruit, yet we do not make the seed grow into a plant or tree. That is the responsibility of our God. Paul shared his acknowledgment of this with the church in Corinth as he wrote in I Corinthians 3:6-7 "6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." We must place our trust and faith in our Creator. We must turn our thoughts and plans into actions always trusting that as long as what we are doing is in line with God's plan for our life that He will assure that it grows as long as we keep nurturing our plans with hard work and earnest service to those our plans impact.
     Sow your seeds today, there is no better time to plant your garden than today. But just remember, nothing is going to happen to that seed until something happens to that seed to turn it into what it was created to be!  Dig deep! Sow abundantly! and then Work constantly to see that what you have planted has the necessary nutrients to allow God to grow it into a mighty cause for His purpose in you!