When Seeds Fight

You’ve heard of “fighting words” haven’t you? When someone says something, usually about your mama, and you get ready to rumble in the streets. We’ve passed the days of fighting words, hopefully. I want to bring your attention to “fighting seeds.”

I don’t know very much about gardening, but one thing I do know is every plant can’t grow together and still blossom or produce good fruit. There’s such a thing called “plant incompatibility.” The website “Gardening Know How” explains it this way:

Determining plant incompatibility can be a guess and check situation since soil types also have an influence on what plants should not be planted together. There are a few basic rules of thumb when it comes to plants to avoid being near one another. First, check that your garden plants are all about the same size and have the same light requirements. Planting very tall plants like tomato next to bush beans, for example, is a very bad idea since the tomatoes will very likely shade out the beans. . .  Plants that need a lot of water will cause those water haters nearby a great deal of discomfort; the same goes for fertilizer. It’s always a good idea to plant things with similar nutritional and water needs together, unless they’re fiercely competitive. . . Last but not least are the plants that are allelopathic. Allelopathic plants have the capability to chemically impede the vital systems of competing plants. These plants are usually weeds, but many landscape and crop plants have been observed leaving behind allelopathic chemicals.

If every plant can’t grow together, then every seed can’t be sown together. Seed Incompatibility may be the reason for our delayed harvest. Check this out:

Deuteronomy 22:9 says, “Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled. ” (NIV) Now, here it is in the Message translation: “Don’t plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard. If you do, you will forfeit what you’ve sown, the total production of the vineyard. “(Msg)

I know we don’t follow all the Old Testament laws and many of them are specific to the historical times and don’t pertain to us today. But. . . spiritual laws ALWAYS pertain to us. They transcend time, space, and religious doctrine. The spiritual law of sowing and reaping remains. Seedtime and harvest time remain. The natural consequences of planting tomatoes next to beans, mirror the spiritual consequences of sowing incompatible spiritual seeds.

So how does this look in the life of a disciplined woman?

A disciplined woman understands that you can’t plant every seed and reap every seed within the same season. It’s very similar to the blog I wrote over 3 years ago called “The All of Right Now.” Scroll down and read it if you haven’t.

As we begin this journey together, you may be tempted to sow a seed for your business, and a seed for your marriage, and a seed for you ministry, and a seed for your health, and a seed for you friend, and a seed for your finances, and seed for your _____________(fill in the blank.) We want it all, and God can handle it all. But, we can’t.

Psychologically and physiologically we can’t save everybody and save everything all in 2018. That ain’t even our job. Lord knows, many of us have been there and done that, and we have the anti-depressants to show for it.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t write down your dreams or pray about God working in every area of your life. You should. What I am saying is the spiritual discipline called sowing and reaping requires a specific seed to meet a specific need. And, when you sow that seed, tend to that seed. Don’t let your mind and emotions get you caught up tending to a handful of other seeds you’ve been wanting to plant too.

If you need to deal with depression in this season, deal with depression, not your friends and family who don’t understand you.

If you need to deal with forgiveness in this season, deal with forgiveness, not the education you still regret not completing.

What’s the one or two most important seeds right now? Let’s work on those and trust God to keep you through the rest. He will do it, beloved. What you must avoid is seed incompatibility. You don’t want your seeds competing against each other. Remember Deut. 22:9 “Don’t plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard. If you do, you will forfeit what you’ve sown, the total production of the vineyard.” So, as you study, pray, and meditate on these lessons, let the Holy Spirit direct you to the areas of your life that need to be dealt with right now.

Task #3 is to go to your journal and to draw a bull’s eye. After prayer (preferably in the spirit), write the one or two seeds you are sowing this year. They may not take the entire year to manifest, but only do one or two in the center of the bullseye. In the other circles, write down the areas where you need God to keep you in peace as you process your targeted seeds. Keep this bullseye near you, with you everyday. If you are feeling crafty, go ahead and clue a mustard seed in the center of the bullseye. It may sound corny, but in faith and with discipline, it works!

As always, disciplined women share in the comments. If you know how to post a pic of your bullseye, feel free. I’d love to see them.

Love,

Dr. Michelle