The Miracle of Seed

Farmers talk much about “seed.” Seed is reproductive material. In planting our garden, my husband talks about the benefits of having heirloom seeds or hybrid seeds.

Hybrid seeds have been artificially cross pollinated. One of the interesting considerations about hybrid plants is that their seeds cannot be used to plant next year’s garden. According to Wikipedia, hybrid seed “…from the first generation of hybrid plants, does not reliably produce true copies, therefore, new seed must be purchased for each planting.” Hybrid seeds are also called “cloned” seeds.

Heirloom seeds, however, do have the potential to reproduce true copies. Seed from the fruit of this year’s heirloom plants can be saved and planted next year. Future crops will produce plants that bear fruit or vegetables that are true copies of the original.

In the Bible, in the first book called “Genesis” (or “Beginning”), we are told how God created all that exists. I find it interesting that a number of times in the Bible, God’s Word is referred to as “seed.” And in the Beginning, we are told that creation came about as God spoke.

“Then God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth’; and it was so…and God saw that it was good.” “Then God said [to the male and female He had made in His own image], ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;...” (Genesis 1:11, 12, 29).

Seed produces plant that bears fruit that contains seed, that produces plant that bears fruit that contains seed. There is a cycle to reproduction. It is always amazing to me when I cut a tomato, cucumber or other fruit or vegetable and realize that each small seed inside has the potential to produce an entire plant which, in turn, would bear much fruit. The multiplication process that God placed within creation makes me stop and think about the unlimited, creative and infinite mind of God that planned every detail with divine purpose.

God not only put that reproductive ability in fruit and vegetables. He also fashioned mankind with “seed” and the ability to reproduce. The Greek word for “seed” is “sperma.” The word “seed” also often refers to offspring, or our children.

Four weeks ago, our youngest daughter had a new baby, Emmy Elizabeth. I cannot look at our grandchildren without considering the miracle of reproduction divinely designed by God. And His plan includes even the smallest details.

Our younger daughter has red hair. Her first child, Cella, has red hair (See family photo below). Cella looks like her mother, but many of her features resemble her father. God uses details of our makeup to create the “seed” that comes forth from us. It is part of that cycle. Many people have told our older daughter that she looks like me, and as many others have said she looks like her father. And yet, even with the resemblances, each of our children and grandchildren are a one-of-a- kind combination of traits and abilities. Even though they may look like their parents and have similar abilities, there is not another person in the world like any of them. Each is precious and unique.

God chooses those characteristics He knows will work together to form the new child exactly as He wants them to be. It all works for His purposes. In Psalm 139, He reminds us that He was forming us inside of our mother’s womb.

Every person alive was created by God’s design and perfect plan. That includes you. The writer of the Psalm, under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, says, “I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:13-14). You were made by God’s design and there is not another person like you in the world.

With today’s technology, things are very different from when I gave birth to our children. I did not know if I was having a girl or boy until my baby was born. Modern machines even allow us to view the formation of the unborn baby. Long before little Emmy was born, a sonogram showed close up pictures of her body, her heartbeat, her kidneys and other organs, and her features – the perfect little nose, ears and rosebud mouth. The size of her bones could be measured and even her weight was determined. As I watched the sonogram, I saw Emmy yawn, and could see her put her tiny hand in her mouth.

Even though I had seen the sonogram, it was completely different to look at this brand new life only minutes after she was born. And now, only weeks later, we have seen her grow and change…far too fast for her Grammy.

This is our seed’s seed. This is our inheritance. Now she is a baby, but as she grows daily and develops, the prayers we have prayed for her for more than nine months will begin to take root. In fact, the prayers we have prayed for years over all of our grandchildren, which now include little Emmy, will bear fruit that will someday be evident in their lives.

Ever since God created the world his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made (Romans 1:20).

Seed. The miracle of reproduction. God must smile as we stand in awe and wonder, watching the process of life. All of these things are revelations of Him, His qualities, His nature, His attributes. Creation was intended to cause us to look to Him, understand His love, experience His Life and its eternal purposes. Our response to creation is to be humble worship, not of creation itself or of its processes, but of Him, the only God, our Creator.