Seeds of Life

One of the cool things about having a name like "Angel Band" is that there are plenty of opportunities to find little "thank you gifts" for each other with angels as the theme. "Thanks for sharing this experience! Thanks for being my friend! Thanks for being you!" At Jane's great weekend escape, Deb reached into her pocket and pulled out four silver angel charms as soon as we were all together. Each one was a little different and the angel with the star was selected just for me. (I have a history with stars.)The really cool thing about the charm is that it has a hinge and can open up. I thought that maybe it was a variation of the prayer box charms that open and you can place a prayer on a small piece of paper inside the charm and close it to hold your prayer. But Deb had found them at a garden store. She thought it was more probable that they were designed to store seeds in the compartment. If you went for a walk and found a particularly lovely flower that you wanted to transport closer to your house, you could harvest some seeds and stow them in the handy inner cubby. Or if you had great success with a flower in your own garden and wanted to share the good seeds along your path, just as Johnny Appleseed did, then you could open up the compartment and sprinkle a little beauty all along your journeys. You may not pass that road again nor see the fulfillment of your plantings, but the evidence of your generosity partnered with the grace of rain will be witnessed by those who happen upon your trails. They will know that something significant was planted and nurtured where there used to be colorless, untended fields.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, May we be a part of your design to transform the plain, unyielding ground into a rich, fertile bed of beauty and blessings. We don't have to know what will grow from our seeds of faith, but we ask that many people will witness and know they are in the presence of something holy that will change their lives and ours. Amen.

Johnny Appleseed (public domain)

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need:
The sun, the rain
and the appleseed;
Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

Oh, and every seed I sow
Will grow into a tree.
And someday there'll be apples there
For everyone in the world to share.
Oh, the Lord is good to me.

Oh, the Lord is good to us
And so we thank the Lord
For giving us the best of friends
The kind of love that never ends
The Lord is good to us.