Hi, all! Just a thought to help start your weekend. 

I cleaned out a couple of used pots that had been sitting in the corner of the carport. I filled them each with good potting soil and dampened it just a bit. I carefully tore open the small paper package and slowly poured just a very few of the seeds into my hand. I then took each of those very tiny seeds, one at a time, and pushed them down into that dirt, covered them up, and sprinkled a little more water over each one.

Then begins the waiting process.

I did all that about two weeks ago. Just a week later, I took this picture. I’ve circled each one so they can be more easily seen. Inside each of those circles is a small green plant. That’s right! I have tomato plants coming up! Isn’t that wonderful?

Yep, they’re small. They look like weeds. Had I not planted them myself, I would have assumed they were weeds and probably pulled them up. But I did plant them, and so I was prepared for what I saw growing — much sooner than I expected, too.

Today, there’s someone sitting in a dark corner waiting for someone else to invite them out into the sunshine. A friend needs a little help in dusting themselves off and refilling themselves with some-thing worthwhile. As a child of God, it is up to you to take even the tiniest of seeds and plant them into that individual. Remind them they are loved. Restore some hope into their dismal existence. Introduce them to Jesus. Plant the seed.

And then water it, too! Keep a check on the slow but sure growth. Water again when neces-sary. And keep an ever-watchful eye out for any weeds.  

If I stop now and don’t water or watch those tomato plants any longer, they will either die, or I’ll likely not ever see any of the tomatoes I can already taste in my mind.

If you give up on that friend, there just might not be any fruit later. Someone at some point in time thought enough of you to plant a seed, water it, and tend to it as you grew. You owe it to those around you to do the same. Invite them into the SONshine, tend to their growth (make disciples), and get ready for what wonderful things will come.

It takes patience. But I promise it’s worth it in the end!

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.