Unless a seed dies …

Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24

November is the season of falling to the ground and dying. Dead flowers are dropping their seeds into the ground. So even in the midst of the season of decay and death, there is the potential for next year’s life. In their dying, the flowers release seeds that lay dormant in the ground over the winter. Then, when warmed by the spring sun and moist soil, some of the seemingly dead seeds sprout and eventually grow  into another season of flowers. One small seed can produce many flowers!

When I look at my garden in November, it’s easy to miss the seeds and focus on the dying foliage and skeletons of flowers. I must have eyes to see the seeds, and faith to believe that beauty comes out of the death of the flower. So November is a season of letting go of the visible in life, and holding onto the invisible or hard to see, the potential, the hopeful next. This promise can sustain in the darkness.

Of course, the verse in the Gospel of John about the seed falling and dying is Jesus foreshadowing his own death … and then resurrection which produced many seeds of life for all who believe.

The thing is, in the midst of the death, it is sometimes hard to see the promise of life. And there has been too much death this November, literal death. So on my walk yesterday  I looked eagerly for seed pods, knowing that in them was the potential for life.

The seed that falls and dies can also be figurative, the death of expectations, dreams, ideas. Some of those might have to fall to the ground and die as well. So that a better reality, dream or idea can be birthed.

So November is the season of falling, dying, letting go. Knowing that the seeds that fall can bring forth newness in due time.