I want to talk about “seeds” its spring time in South Africa- a time for planting. The seed has so much to teach us of the miracles and mysteries of God. And it's messy!

Sonny.

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Bunani my friends.

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Thanks for joining me on the

creative, spiritual journey podcast.

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Where Ghia and I share with

you, what's on our hearts.

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The joys we witnessed in

this season of our lives.

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Uh, and anything else we discover

along this wonderful journey of life.

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I'm Judy.

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Also known as sister Cooley

here in the Durban, South Africa

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mission for the church of Jesus

Christ of latter day saints.

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Wow.

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It's a lot of words.

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I am your host for this episode.

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Host is a curious word.

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It makes me feel all proper.

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Like I'm Julia Childs and I'm

hosting a fancy dinner party.

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When actually.

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I want this moment together to be

more like when a friend stops by

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and you share what's on your mind.

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While sitting at the kitchen counter.

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I love those moments.

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And I wouldn't just ask how you doing.

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But rather as a real friend, I'd

ask, Hey, what's on your heart.

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What keeps you awake at night?

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I hope this is that kind of

space where I can share with you.

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What's on my heart

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In hopes that it helps you

on your journey on mission.

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I've had many opportunities to

teach principles, to help change

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hearts and behaviors through

the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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We teach a 12 step course

for overcoming pornography.

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Uh, strengthening marriage class.

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And I teach a hope in Christ

healing course to women.

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What I'm noticing is a common thread.

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F how important it is to understand.

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Change.

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We all need a change of heart to

surrender our hearts to the savior.

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Repentance.

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Is change.

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Overcoming healing and

strengthening relationships

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cannot be done without change.

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The kind of change that

comes from his grace.

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And guess what?

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This is messy stuff.

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It is rough and tough on the soul.

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That's what I'm witnessing

change is not for sissies.

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Planting seeds for change and

nourishing and growing and becoming

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someone new to bring forth.

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Better fruit.

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Good fruit, delicious fruit in our lives.

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All of this is messy.

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Seriously though.

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Everyone.

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Every one of us are in a

constant change, growth and

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progression either for the better.

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Or for the worse.

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Life does not just

happen in a sterile lab.

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It happens more in the dirty

sandbox, full of microbes and germs.

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Right.

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It's the real stuff.

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I want to talk to you about seeds.

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It's springtime here in South Africa.

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And in fact today we just

had our first thunder storm.

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It is glorious out there.

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It smells like rain smells like spring.

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Spring is a time for planting.

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I love that Jesus compares faith.

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To a seed.

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Last weekend.

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I was in a training meeting for

the release society presidents.

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I love these sisters and we were

counseling together about what's on our

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hearts and what keeps us up at night.

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One sweet sister, a recent convert, and

now a newly called the relief society.

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President was talking to us about her

fears and how she felt overwhelmed.

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And.

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I doubted that she could do this.

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Yeah.

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Which I thought, yeah, I get that.

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Right.

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We've all been there.

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When another well-seasoned sister

who has been serving as president for

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years told her her story was the same

that she didn't feel educated enough.

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She was fearful.

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Very fearful of speaking

in front of people.

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And she was praying for

strength and courage.

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In fact, she even said

she had fasted and prayed.

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And she did say that she had always

loved gardening and she was confident

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about her gardening skills and she

knew how to plant and grow a garden.

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Then one night she had a dream.

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And in it.

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It was as if the Lord told her to

go to work in the garden to treat

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these sisters as she does her garden.

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She woke with new courage because

she told us she was confident

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in her ability to grow a garden.

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And she would just apply the same

care and love to the sisters.

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she does a beautiful job.

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Her branch is flourishing under her care.

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Many times I have thought about

this mission is planting seeds.

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Gardening.

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And who knows if we'll ever be

able to see the fruits of our labor

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and this side of the vineyard.

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Seeds.

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Fascinate me.

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That within.

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A tiny Appleseed.

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In that tiny little shell lies

all the DNA to make up a full

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grown fruit bearing apple tree.

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That is miraculous.

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I think of this one, I'm

planning a garden, looking at

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those tiny seeds in my hand.

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I admit.

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I'm kind of doubtful.

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This has gone to work.

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Have you ever looked a beet seed?

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Seriously?

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That bumpy Rocky looking thing

is going to produce a beat.

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This little thing can really

become anything is amazing to me.

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And come harvest.

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Uh, I'm proven wrong again.

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Those seeds really did become the beets,

the squash, the beans, and the tomatoes.

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There's also those seeds.

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You know, those seats that are

created to be blown on the wind.

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They fascinate me too.

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They're created to have

this little parachute.

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To help them fly in hopes to be

carried to fertile soil, to grow.

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Like the dandy lion puffs.

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Do you remember as a child making wishes

and then blowing on the dandelion puff?

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Just to see its seeds scatter.

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This seems to be a more

haphazard way of planting seeds.

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less chance for it to land.

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On real nice soil.

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It'll more likely land on a Rocky

soil, or maybe not even soil at all.

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is a parable that Christ

taught his disciples.

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The parable of the sower.

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We, we all know it well.

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Yeti X-1: It is found in mark four.

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Verses one through 20 and Matthew chapter

13 verses one through 23 and Luke eight.

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For through 15.

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the parable is There is a sower that

goes about sewing fourths seeds.

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So he's scattering seeds.

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And he, so some by the wayside and

the fowls came and devoured them.

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Some fell on Stony places that didn't

have much earth and they began to

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spring forth, but they didn't have

the deepness of the earth, the roots.

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So when the sun comes

up, they're scorched.

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And because they have no roots, they

wither away and some fall among thorns

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and the thorns spring up and choke them.

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But others fell into good

ground and brought forth fruit.

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Some a hundred fold,

some 60 and some 30 fold.

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I love that.

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It seems.

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To me.

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That this gardener, our sower is just.

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throwing seeds.

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Or is he.

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Is it possible?

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This sower?

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No something.

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Maybe he knows a little something

about seeds and how seeds

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work, the secret of seeds.

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He trust the seeds.

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He trusts the soil.

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He trusts the sun, the shade.

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The clouds.

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And the rain.

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Yeah.

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He is participating in the process of

planning by throwing right and harvesting.

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He even pays attention to

the season and gets to work.

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When the time is right.

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But he never is under the

illusion that he is in charge.

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He knows that the growth comes from God.

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We tell the missionaries here all

the time, we can plant the seed,

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water, fertilize, and nourish,

but all the growth comes from God.

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And the miracles that are within the seed.

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There is a poem.

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I used to share in my yoga

classes in the spring time.

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It's written by Cynthia OCLI.

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Titled the seed.

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For a seed to achieve

its greatest expression.

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It must come completely and done.

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The shell cracks.

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It's insides come out.

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And every thing changes.

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To someone.

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Who doesn't understand growth.

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It would look like a complete.

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Destruction.

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Isn't that powerful.

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Let me repeat that again

because it's short.

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But this time.

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I'd like for you in your mind

to ask yourself what changes.

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Our growth are you experiencing

right now in your life?

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That look messy.

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For a seed to achieve

its greatest expression.

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It must come completely undone.

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The shell cracks.

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It's insides come out.

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And everything changes.

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To someone who doesn't understand

growth, it would look like a complete.

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Destruction.

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To understand growth.

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We need to understand the reason.

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For trials and tests and challenges.

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That is the lesson of the seed.

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Wherever you've been planted.

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For us to realize our full potential.

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We have to go through opposition.

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To gain that strength as we go

through those struggles, right.

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To reach for the light.

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To reach for the water.

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For our growth to become what God.

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Created us to become.

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Did you know that within

each of us, you know, this.

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That within each of us is the DNA of D D.

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We are seeds of deity.

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every living soul is created in the image

of God, the father and God, the mother.

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Yeah, we don't look or act much like them.

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He.

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Yet.

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We look more like the little sapling,

trying to push its root into Rocky ground.

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The full becoming as them.

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Isn't going to be

complete in this lifetime.

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But knowing this.

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Maybe.

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Maybe knowing this, that we are

seeds of DDT can comfort us when

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we're going through the growing

pains and life feels like a disaster.

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We can ask ourself.

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How is this bringing growth?

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What am I to learn from this?

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And then hold on.

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Sometimes.

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Where those seeds.

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They're just scattered in rough places.

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maybe we feel more like the little

seed lien struggling for light.

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We all will and have, if you

haven't yet we'll experience

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some really messy moments.

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Where like the seed,

everything is changing.

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Our children's grow up.

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Our bodies experienced sickness

and aging accidents happen.

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Our relationships change.

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Our environments change.

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Our purpose change, sometimes a loved

one, even dice changing the scenery.

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Some of life's lessons

will be difficult for sure.

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And we may be asked to face

more than we think we can.

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And certainly more than we want.

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We may want to scream out why me?

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Why again?

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Or I can't take it anymore.

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Or does God really care about me?

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It's okay.

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And it's even human.

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To ask these questions.

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I know I have.

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you and I are in good company.

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King David asked.

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How long would the forget me?

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Oh, Lord.

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And the prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty

jail asked, oh God, where art thou.

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Even the savior himself in

excruciating suffering on the cross.

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Wondered if he too had been forsaken.

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But our loving father in heaven answers.

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to All these faithful souls

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Be still and know that I am God and

to you and I he'll answer all our

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prayers uttered in darkness of despair.

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he is always and ever.

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The same.

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he has not left us.

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We are not forgotten.

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His promises are sure his

arms are always out stretched.

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I even believe he knows.

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And he's aware of each seed.

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Us.

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We're replanted.

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And how we are growing.

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And Elma 32.

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Do you love Alma 32.

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It's so full of rich.

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Analogies of seeds.

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In verse 28, the seed is

compared to the word of God.

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No, I'm going to take some

Liberty with Elmo's words.

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Now if you give place.

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Make a place.

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That a seed may be planted in your heart.

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What kind of condition is

the soil of your heart?

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And behold, if it be a true seed

or a good seed, And if you do

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not cast it out by your unbelief,

Oh, the power of our thoughts.

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It will be began to

swell within your breast.

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And when you feel these swelling

motions, you will begin to

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say, this is a good seed.

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And that seed will begin to

enlighten your understanding.

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It begins to be delicious to me.

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Don't you love that?

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It begins to enlighten my understanding.

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It begins to be delicious to me.

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So ask yourself.

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Are you planting seeds of

fear, Or are those seeds of

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the fruit of the spirit joy?

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Faith seeds of love, seeds

of good works of hope of

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kindness, repentance and change.

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I invite you to pause and ponder

on the wonderful miracle of you.

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That's within your soul.

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That within your very DNA is a blueprint.

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Just like the apple seed.

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The blueprint of an apple tree.

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Yours is a blueprint.

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Of deity, your heavenly

father, your heavenly mother.

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A goddess or a God in embryo.

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And that might seem too

outrageous and farfetched for you.

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I know some days.

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I feel like.

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I'm having a hard time, even being

a little bit, Christ-like my words.

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Fall short.

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My faith waivers.

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I'm more fearful than faithful.

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And I don't even think

about my brother, let alone.

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Am I, his keeper.

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Maybe.

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some days.

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I'm more like the dandy lion seed.

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A weed.

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This leads me to one

more lesson of the seed.

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Patients.

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Patients and long suffering.

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Those.

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Our fruits of the spirit also.

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These things all take time.

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eternity kind of time.

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Eternal.

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progression kind of time.

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Thank Kevins.

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We have time to keep trying.

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And trying to make it right.

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And I also have learned

from gardening with seeds.

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not all seeds, bear

fruit at the same time.

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And there's different

times to plant those seeds.

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So be kind to yourself.

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As you would attend her little sapling.

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That's doing its best to grow and

change into that big apple tree.

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Let your roots sink deep into rich soil.

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And let your branches

reach high to his light.

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And then lean into the messy.

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Lean into the hard.

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Yeti X-4: Trusting in the great creator

or heavenly father and our savior.

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Jesus Christ.

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And the seed, the seed that

he has planted within us.

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Yeti X-1: And that seed will begin

to enlighten your understanding.

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It begins to be delicious

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Yeti X-4: Hey, if you know someone.

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That is struggling with.

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This process of changing and growing.

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Um, please share this message with them.

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Ah, gee, and I would

appreciate it very much.

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Thanks.

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My friend.

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For being here.

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With me on the creative,

spiritual journey.

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And.

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remember that's Zulu for, I love you.

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And I say these things.

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In the name of Jesus Christ.

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The great sower.

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And I will see you in the garden.