Wildflowers

Sometimes we refer to planting a seed of thought in someone's brain.
But if we consider bluebonnets seeds it is much more like training a child through the rebellious years of teens and into adulthood.

Every spring my children would be the first to discover the bluebonnets blooming in the fields near the house. While out playing, the children would run across a patch of fresh blooms. In the excitement of their new discovery, they would pick handfuls of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes. One of my sweetest memories of the children would be of them standing in front of me with their upraised hands full of the colorful spring flowers. We loved the spring flowers and began to try to get the bluebonnets to bloom where we wanted them to.
My desire was to have masses of the colorful blooms in the front of my yard. We scattered seeds at random hoping that each and every seed would produce a healthy plant. But when spring came only a few plants would bloom, not the tremendous mass of display for which we had hoped.

Again we would gather seeds and sow them randomly and again the spring brought a disappointing display. Undaunted, we continued to scatter the seeds. Some years were hard and cruel and the rains came too late for the seeds to get the proper moisture and the spring would bring few blooms.

Still I was concerned over the lack of bluebonnets in my yard. I studied to learn what needed to be done to have the beautiful displays. I watched and waited and hoped. The sun was the most important requirement for growth. I selected locations that placed the plants in the sun. Plants growing in the sun would grow large and full, producing a crown of blooms and yield strong seeds. Plants deprived of the sun suffered and were spindly and weak and eventually the plant would wither and die.

The next summer a small grass fire burned the field where the wildflower seeds were thrown. I thought all was lost, the seeds were gone. The summer was hotter than usual and the winter cold and harsh.

The harsh treatments the dormant seed had gone through began to wear down the hard protective coating. Moisture crept into the inner areas of the seed where the tiny heart of the seed laid for years since it had been formed. The tiny heart began to grow and the new life began to emerge. Strong and colorful for all the hardships it had gone through, the plants finally had grown to withstand the harsh temperatures of the Texas summers. The plants were strong and mature ready to begin a productive life.

The field was a celebration of newly found life.

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.