SEED SONG

Here was the poem that was shared at this week's SOUP worship:

SEED SONG by Joyce Rupp

I am the seed so small, so dry, lifted in the hand of the silent Sower.

Into the earth I fearfully fall, darkness covers me, silence surrounds me.

The terror of my heart is the only sound to keep me company.

All that is me huddles together trying desperately not to surrender any part of self.

Why was I planted? I dry out. Why am I here? I entreat. Take me out into the light: I cannot bear this deathly dark.

I weary, I weakened, the days become long. I can no longer fight.

I surrender in this lonely place of waiting.

Quietly I sense a penetrating warmth; it surrounds me; it fills me and blesses my pain.

I n a moment of peacefulness I forget my fear.

I let go of my self and suddenly the husk that holds me weakens and breaks.

No, I scream. I am losing my self, but it is too late. The husk is cracked; I cannot be contained.

It is then that I sense a power deep inside of me, encouraging me: let go. Let go. Let go.

It is an energy that pushes the husk until it falls away.

As it slips aside my eyes behold color. Ah! Can it be? A tiny glimpse of green!

How could that be? I marvel, there was never green in the heart of me.

Yet, it is there; each day, it slowly stretches upwards to where the warm seems to be.

I become less of a seed. I am losing my self, but the pain I once knew is lost in surprise; something wonderful is greening and growing deep within my heart.

Days go quickly no. I become one with the small stem of life.

Oh! The glorious moment when, ah, breath of Spring fast fills my face. I move through the hard earth and taste the world which awaits my arrival.

From within my tender shoot comes a soft sound. I listen, I hear. It is a song to the Sower.

Sower of seeds, did you always see this gift of green that was hiding in me?

Sower of seeds, how came you to prize the beauty within that I hid from my eyes?

Sower of seeds, the husk has been broken; all praise to you for helping me open.

Accept now my praise, my thankfulness, too, for the seed you have sown and gift that you grew.

May you lead me to others who await your good word, so the seeds within them can awake and be heard.