Lead Me to that Place of Wide Open Space

I believe that we learn about life not just from formal education but also from our everyday life interaction. There are lessons to be learned through nature, relationships and daily observations, if we just tune ourselves into the multiple messages being spoken to us every day. My husband and I were travelling to an appointment when all of sudden there seemed to be traffic. He noticed that we were being funneled and channeled into one lane and this bottleneck was the cause of us slowing down and delaying us to get to our desired destination on time.

In his frustration he asked more to himself but still out loud “Why is the road only one lane on such a busy street?”  As I surveyed the area more thoroughly I realized that they were expanding the road and that to do so they had to contain the lanes so they could have enough room for the expansion process. They were going from two lanes to four lanes but before that they had to go to only one lane. As I shared this out loud I also said “So everyone has to go through a small space and the inconvenience for a short time so that later there would be a larger space after the work is completed”.

 My husband got a hold of this internally and with me being a Doula he gave an example that really resonated with me.  He said “It's kind of like when a baby is being born, they start off small and then they grow until they fill the space and then they go through a small space (birthing canal) to be able to come out to the world which is a much wider space”

 This spoken revelation was awesome because it spoke about how growth happens in many areas in our lives. As human beings we all usually get frustrated when we feel we are being slowed down or channeled in any given area. It may be happening in our business, personal life or even spiritual growth.  When sometimes in actuality what truly is occurring is the “growth expansion process”.   For us to be able to come out into wide-open spaces sometimes we have to go through a narrow space so for a time we may feel confined as we prepare to be birthed into something much bigger. This uneasy, unfamiliar, messy, uncomfortable and sometimes even painful place may cause many of us to want to make a U-turn or even plan an easy exit route. But there is a purpose in the process! A plan in the pain!  A destiny in the delay!  We must begin to trust that we will get to our destination on time and that there is a reason for what we are going through.

There are now proven studies that children that are brought into the world by C-section, which is sometimes a short cut into the world, though may sometimes be necessary, may start life with insufficient intestinal bacteria flora (microbiomes). These bacteria are known to play a part in protecting children from developing allergies and children who lack them may be at higher risk of other health problems.

During a regular vaginal birth infants come in contact with a rich dose of their mother’s bacteria as they are pressed through the birth canal. C-section babies don’t get this exposure, which is likely to be vital in developing the immune system and helping it to mature.

When we relate this process to our everyday life we see that even the things we don’t understand while we are going through this tight confined space that they will eventually help to make us stronger and more immune when we come out into the bigger wider open spaces. If we do not struggle or resist, or try to circumvent the process no matter how difficult it may seem. If we yield, resist the fear and just let nature take its course, then and only then will we enter the other side from one lane to four lanes of wide open space and freedom.

The Power of a Seed

Recently there is a message that keeps repeating itself to me. I have been gaining revelation knowledge and understanding about the power of a seed. Within a small seed no matter what seed it is there is everything necessary to create, sustain, reproduce and flourish. Seeds create plants, flowers, trees, animals and human beings. Out of these things many other things are created as well. Houses are built because a seed grew, clothing comes from a seed, food comes from seeds and our next generation is all because of a seed.

Wow! The power of a large oak tree is in one seed. The ultimate goal of the tree or plant is to produce fruit that would reproduce more seeds.  A seed goes through an amazing process. When in the correct environment and conditions the potential in a seed is encouraged to release what has been dormant within. From being buried in the nutrients of the soil, to breaking open and allowing what is within to emerge using two points of growth by pushing downwards to grow roots deep and pushing upwards to break through the surface to reach for the necessary ingredients to sustain life, such as air, water and the sun.  Eventually it will weather different conditions, heat, wind, rain, storms growing against all obstacles to become strong and inevitably to produce blossoms and fruit and more seeds.

In the gospels Jesus speaks of the power of a seed. He speaks of the Sower that scatters the seed in four different types of places. Different soil will produce different results in the process of the potential of a seed. In explaining this parable Jesus says that the seed is the word of the kingdom, the soil is our hearts and each example is a different result of the word in our lives.

1. “Some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and ate them up”- this word was not understood and the enemy came and snatched it away so it does nothing to the heart.

2. “Some fell on stony ground and because of not enough earth beneath it, the sun scorched them and they had no roots to ground them”- this word was received into the heart with joy, but because this word had no potential to grow roots deep in the heart, it was not grounded and the person stumbles when a bit of difficult circumstances happen.

3. “Some fell upon the thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them out.”- This person too receives the word, but there are other things like the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches that choke the word and cause the word not to produce.

4. “Others fell on good soil and yielded a crop, each seed reproducing different amounts.”- This person hears, understands, receives and goes through the process to produce fruit , some a hundred fold, some sixty and some thirty.

Please note that in all four places it is the same seed being planted by the same Sower, but each one is reproducing a different result.  The difference here is the condition of the heart.

Many of us are not aware of the other seeds that are being planted in our hearts, seeds of discord and negativity, of unbelief and worry, seeds of self and seeds of resistance. Like sneaky weeds they grow and we think they are good until it is too late. They take over and we have trouble finding room to plant good seeds in the gardens of our hearts.

Today I want to encourage you to break up the fallow ground in your heart and to fertilize it and dig up all weeds or nearby plants that could possibly hinder the growth of the seed that desires to be planted deep in your heart. 

When God comes to sow seed how will you receive it? Will you hear and understand? Will you throw it away or let it be stolen? Will you have the desires of the world to choke out the potential of growth that is in that seed? Or will it grow and flourish and reproduce much fruit?

Remember there is much power and potential in just one seed.

Charmaine Hinds / alona hazaka