10 Vital Lessons From the Seed

10 Vital Lessons From the Seed

I was born in the rural part of Masvingo where our source of livelihood was practicing the concept of sowing and reaping (peasant farming). My father practiced this principle for many decades which he passed on to his own children. Over the years that i have been involved on the piece of land my family tills year after year, I have been drawn to assess the nature, value and characteristics of various kind of seed, lessons which I share with you today. My focus is not so much the physical seed as you may know it. The principle of seed-time and harvest is an age old principle which has been practiced even before civilization. You reap what you sow. Seed can be the thoughts you entertain and ponder on. The thoughts develop to create actions and habits which in turn grow to shape someone's character. Your mind is the field on which the seeds a planted and grown. You can sow just about anything in life. You can sow financially (money), materially, emotionally, spiritually etc. The principle applies to every facet of life and can be practiced or put in motion subconsciously. Daily, you are making life decisions. The effects of your decisions from 5 years ago can be seen in your quality of life today. If you sowed a bad seed, no wonder why you have to grapple with bad fruit trees around you. The issue is not to blame shift or point fingers, you would rather work on the issues as they are now to the best of your ability rather than ignore those seedlings which will soon become trees.

Vital Lessons 

1. A seed has to die before it can multiply  - Until it goes through a death process, it abides as just one seed. When it goes through this process, only then can germination and multiplication begin. Your finances are a type of seed. You will always have the $100 in your wallet all year round as long as you choose to keep it as such and not multiply it. When you deliberately take that same note and strategically invest it e.g. purchase shares on stock exchange, give some to the poor etc. and watch how multiplication of the same note happens. The death process will be the time you bury it in investments. It will seem like you have lost but when germination, growth and fruit bearing begin, you will benefit immensely. You have to give up in order to get.

2. Every seed has an instruction for multiplication  - At the core of every seed is an embryo. Any embryo has the blueprint of the plant in terms of all instructions pertaining to the genetics and character of the plant to be. You do not need to infuse the multiplication instruction into a tree. This thought or trait is carried from seed level all the way up. The behavior of a tree (when to bloom, size of fruit, color of flowers etc.) is dependent on the instructions the seed carries. There is no multiplication in a tree outside of the formula carried in the seed. Coming to your mind - when you see someone acting out in a certain way it is a result of mental seeds that have been nurtured and grown to capacity. Every character issue starts in the mind. If the seeds of the mind can be given the correct instructions, the outcome in terms of character is positive. Parents, watch the seed going into the mind of your child in the early stages. Blame no one when you have to grapple with teenage and early adulthood delinquency emanating from seeds you left them to sow through TV, Internet etc.

3. Every seed has capacity to meet your need only if you sow it  - Your future needs can be met by your present seed. Your seed is not to be kept in the cupboard somewhere. It is not a masterpiece for viewing pleasure. Dormant seed remains the same unless you sow it. The tragedy is that when NEED comes, we FEED on SEED as the first option. Seed is not for consumption. Take the best portion of the harvest and set aside as seed. Only at harvest time can you begin to enjoy the benefits of consuming what you planted. Premature harvests will meet your needs partially. You will then have to grapple with a perpetual desire for consumption. Create in your team or children the desire to sacrifice temporary hunger (save the seed) with the hope of a future hunger busting harvest. Next time your mind brings a good idea, before you trash it; think twice whether that is not the idea you have been waiting for all your life. Nurture the idea and grow it

4. The size of the seed does not always equate to the size of the tree that makes the seed - Seeds vary in size from dust like size to 20kg seed (The largest seed in plant kingdom to date being the coco de Mer). A mustard seed grows to a huge tree while a maize seed (bigger than mustard) makes a very perennial maize plant which is nowhere near the size of the size of the mustard tree. I have often seen people wonder why when they give big seed they seem to get the same harvest as someone who gave a few coins. The difference is in the motive of the sower. If your giving to charity is powered by the desire for recognition, desire to be seen and mentioned then your seed, "donation", may be going to waste. It should never be about what people say after you have given, sow seed in people's lives even without any headlines in the papers. Watch how you keep getting more to give when your heart is right.

5. A seed can only develop under the right conditions for germination and growth  - There are conditions under which germination takes place. You need the soil, with the correct amount of moisture, and correct amount of warmth. The plant will grow favorably with the right amount of nutrients in the soil and access to water. Just because you have the thought of this big business will not bring about the business automatically. It will never be a big bang scenario. Every dream requires a conducive environment for growth e.g. you want to start this multi-million dollar business; it requires such conditions as you studying something in line with business, you surrounding yourself with the correct counsel; you protecting the dream from predators seeking to reap where they did not sow. The outcome of your seed is dependent on you setting the correct environment and conditions for its manifestation of full potential.

6. Timing is important - There is a time to sow and a time to reap. Seed-time and harvest will always endure for as long as the earth is there. Maize seed takes days to germinate; the coco de mer takes 2 years to germinate. Failure to acknowledge the differences in the germination period of different kinds of seed results in the sower terminating or sabotaging the growth process by continually exposing the seed by one's anxiety and impatience. Genetically modified visions and dreams will always produce genetically modified fruits. You may quicken the process of getting the harvest but natural is always better and more precious. Trust me, I tasted GMO fruits, GMO chicken and my mind is set on naturally processed foods. Be careful not to shorten the life of your dream/vision by trying to short circuit natural progressions set out in the seed. A seed sown in the wrong season may germinate but not survive the conditions it will face. There is a time for everything under the sun, time to plant, time to reap.

7. The seed bed is crucial to the outcome of the seed - Where you decide to sow will impact on whether you get anything out of your investment. If you take a million dollars to the lottery queue, you are certainly sowing into the probabilities world. You have such a high risk of not getting your principal amount. I have often heard it said "High risk, high turnover" but certain things do not require rocket science to tell you that you can easily lose all your seed in fantasy world. Business is not a game of chance; you do not sow in environments which are not conducive for seed potential exposition. It is however the sower's decision at the end of it all that is fulfilled. I do not deny however that a sower would sometimes have seen something that no one else is seeing, an opportunity in the sea of doubt and impossibility. I am only highlighting this point to ensure your sowing is more strategic and you are aware of the consequences of lack of wisdom in choosing the seed bed.

8. A seed produces after its own - There is a level of IDENTITY of the seed to the harvest. You reap more than what you sow in that one seed can produce thousands of more seeds. I have seen people who sow vehicles into other people's lives and continue to find numerous avenues to get more vehicles. You cannot sow grapes and expect to get mangoes. A farmer can almost predict his yield based on hectrage that he/she has sown. When your mind entertains bad thoughts, it is almost predictable that the outcomes of your life will be as bad. Before murder is committed, one would have entertained, anger, bitterness, envy and all the negative emotions. Murder is then a culmination or the cross pollination between all the negative emotions.

9. A seed teaches having resilience and an overcoming spirit  - When a seed is buried in the ground whether by mistake or by intent, it has to fight its way up all by itself. The sower walks away and almost says "there you are, get on with it". After a few days the farmer comes to check on the percentage of germination. What he is saying is "how many of you seed overcame the conditions I left you under?" Your seed must stand the test of time, stand the pressure of economic depression or recession, stand the test of discouragement and doubt.

10. Protect the seed and it preserves your future - Natural seeds have natural coating which preserves them in times of dormancy (when conditions are not favorable for germination). When such protective cover is removed, the core of the seed suffers and dies, never to see the joys of germination. You must protect your seed with your life. Birds of the air will prowl for seed to feed on. If your seed is exposed, it will benefit the external stakeholders at the expense of the major shareholder (you). It is easy to work so hard to setup a company, grow your seed such that it is now noticeable. If you do not provide enough safeguards, you can lose your company to market watchers seeking to take advantage of underfunded, distressed companies. They come in the name of "investors". Be careful not to give away too much. Give away enough to get your seed the power to flourish.

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