Acorns

 by Macy Johnson

“For as the soil makes the sprout come up

and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise

spring up before all nations.”

(Isaiah 61:11 NIV)

 

We had a bumper crop of acorns this year. As my husband, Jeff, and I sat on our porch and looked out over the beds of plants and flowers hugging massive trees, we noticed tiny oaks peeking out above the pine straw and mulch. The tiny saplings had sequestered the beds and provided an unwelcome blanket of ground cover.

 

“How did all the acorns get there?” I asked. “Were they planted by squirrels?” “Some were,” Jeff replied, “but most fell out of the trees, planted themselves under the pine straw, and started growing!” A few days later he mowed them down with his weed-eater.

 

Isaiah reminds us in chapter sixty-one: in the Year of the Lord’s Favor His righteousness will fill all life and spread like the acorns in our yard and beyond. His Words will fall on fertile hearts - those who are receptive to the Truth.

 

On my daily neighborhood walk, I noticed an abundance of acorns. Those which had not already been run over by cars or trucks and smashed into smithereens, lay quietly on top of the asphalt, waiting to die or be filched by squirrels. Is that what happens when God’s Word is sown on hard ground, when receivers are not receptive?

 

I might imagine I am surrounded by spiritual pavement. People may ignore the Truth and want their ears tickled with lies, but I will not give up hope. I have seen firsthand the work of fertile soil on acorn seeds and the seeds of Life.

 

I will make my heart fertile and ready to receive and grow His Word of Truth. I hope you will, too!