Faith is like a Little Seed

Faith

by Beatrice Goff Jackson

Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.

Faith is knowing the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray.

Faith is like a little seed:

If planted, it will grow.

Faith is a swelling within my heart.

When I do right, I know.

Faith is knowing I lived with God before my mortal birth.

Faith is knowing I can return when my life ends on earth.

Faith is trust in God above;

In Christ, who showed the way.

Faith is strengthened; I feel it grow

Whenever I obey.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we frequently compare faith to a seed. This could result from the comparison of faith to a mustard seed that Savior gives in the Bible.

And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you (Luke 17:6). 

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matthew 17:20).

We generally use Alma 32 as our main source, even though in this chapter it compares "the word unto a seed" (v. 28). However, the analogy still works really well when compared to faith.

Avocado seed sprouting
Source: The Avocado Diet

About a year ago, my husband and I decided we would try to grow an avocado tree from one of the pits after making some guacamole. We are not gardeners. At all. We searched through the internet for directions and discovered that we just needed to stick it with three toothpicks to hold it about halfway in water. Then we needed to wait. We waited for a long time. It took about 5 weeks before we saw any roots or stem. All we noticed was the pit splitting apart. I honestly thought the pit was rotting, but I hoped that it wasn't. We waited some more, making sure the water level was high enough.

Eventually, we saw that it was alive and growing! Once a root and stem were visible we were more excited and regularly checked it to see how it changed since the last time we looked (anything from a few hours to a few days). Several weeks later we believed it to be rooted enough and tall enough to move into a pot. We purposely choose a good sized pot to encourage the tree to grow even more. We kept it inside through fall and winter to make sure the Rexburg, Idaho cold temperatures wouldn't kill our plant before it had a chance to fight back.

This spring, the weather was warmer earlier than it normally is. As a result, my dear husband put out a good portion of our house plants to our concrete porch to enjoy the unfiltered sunlight and breeze. However, we'd forget to bring them in at night when the temperature drops. We'd forget we needed to water it more considering it's on the hot concrete in the sun. We'd forget to bring it in when we'd have strong winds and storms passing through. Our little avocado tree really suffered. Its leaves were torn and they curled up. It stopped growing upward and producing new leaves. We are now very diligent about bringing this little tree inside when the weather outside looks frightful.

Our year old avocado tree

Now what does this have to do with faith? What similarities are there between faith and this avocado tree?

We experimented. We aren't gardeners. We know almost nothing about plants other than giving them water and sunlight and room to grow. We especially didn't know how to grow something from the leftovers of the fruits (or vegetables) we eat. It was an experiment.
Alma says, "Awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith" (v. 27). We need to exercise just a particle of faith in Christ and experiment upon the words of God, His commandments. My husband and I simply stuck toothpicks in an avocado pit, put it in some water and placed it in the sunlight. That's all we did. Occasionally, we'd noticed the water level lower than it should be so we'd add more. However, that's truly all we did at first. Just exercised a little faith.

I mentioned that there was a period of time where I was worried the avocado wasn't going to sprout, that it rotted. As verse 32 reads, "Therefore, if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away." That's obvious. Exercise faith. See what comes from it. Be patient. You'll learn if your faith was worth it. Faith in the Savior is always worth it. Just exercise some faith and patience. If I had thrown the seed out when I had first thought it was rotted, we wouldn't have the little tree we have now. I just didn't recognize the signs of it sprouting. We are told of how to plant a spiritual seed in us:

Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me (v. 28).

Seeds swell before they sprout. I hadn't really realized that before. They absorb the water, the nourishment, before growing roots or a stem. I like what verse 33 says, "And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good." We were so excited to see this seed growing! Faith is the same way. We know that it has swelled, that it has sprouted, that our understanding increased, and our minds begin to expand (v. 34). But this is only the beginning. We don't just say the experiment was a success and then let the newly sprouted seed die. "Neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good" (v. 36).

The next natural step is to continue to nourish the seed. To plant it in good soil and give it sunlight. To make sure the environment is favorable towards it. To water it. We must "nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us" (v. 37). How does this relate to faith? Once we recognize the truth of the gospel and the Savior, once we have exercised faith and given it the opportunity to grow, we need to continue to do so. We need to make sure to avoid unfavorable circumstances and situations that could harm us and our budding faith and testimony. For example, it would probably be best to avoid going to a midnight party where drugs and alcohol will be served and your standards challenged. Maybe you'd come through fine, but why put yourself in such a situation? If you know it's going to be cold and windy outside, why put your sprouting tender tree out in it purposely? Maybe it would survived, but perhaps it'd only cause it damage.

I love how Alma states the following:

But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.
Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof (v. 38-39).

If I neglected my little seed and it dies and I threw it out, it's not because it wasn't good or that it wouldn't have produced avocados in the future. It's because I didn't continue to put forth the effort to care for it. Faith in Jesus Christ is the same. You must continue to have it and exercise it. It's not because Christ isn't trustworthy; it's not because we wouldn't gain salvation if we continued. We just decided to stop, give up, and not endure to the end.

Our sprouting pineapple

Earlier, in verse 37 it mentioned nourishing the seed so that it grows roots. We have a pineapple we are currently experimenting with. It has grown these little white fuzzy roots which absorb the water. We are letting it develop more in this jar of water before giving it some soil. Just as we did with our avocado. Our little tree needed strong roots. If we hadn't given it the time to grow roots, to dig into it's pot of soil before accidentally leaving it outside to face the wind storms, I'm sure our little tree would have toppled and possibly died.

We need to make sure that our spiritual seed is growing firm roots in the foundation of the Savior. Helaman 5:12 reads:

Remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

This way, when we face adversity we can be strong. Sometimes we experience trials because of our own choices and its consequences. For example, if your a chain smoker, you can expect to struggle with your health at some point in your life. Other times we experience trials because it's just a part of mortality. Elder Richard G. Scott says:

When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more (see Prov. 3:11-2). He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain ("Trust in the Lord").

Our tender avocado faced winds, rain, hot concrete, cold nights. While we had made a mistake and left our tree outside and our tree suffered the consequence of that accidental decision, eventually our little tree will be permanently planted in the soil outside and have to face the natural weather. There are some things we can do to protect it at that point the best we can, but nature happens. We need to make sure we give it the best chance possible to survive. Just with our faith. We need to make sure to protect it. To encourage a strong foundation in Christ.

Sometimes our plants are cut down through no fault of our own. One avid gardner had beautiful rows of carrots and radishes. Her husband has a keen interest in horses. It just so happened that the tether on the horses were just long enough for them to reach the carrots and radishes. They nibbled the tops off. She was thinking that there was no coming back from such severe damage. However, she continued to care for her garden, hoping that they would be alright. They were and they produced lovely carrots and radishes.

There are times when our faith and testimony takes a severe beating and might be cut down through the trials and adversity we face. However, if we have a strong foundation in Christ and we nourish it, we can be stronger and better than before.

Our little avocado tree, while not having grown any taller since its trials, has grown thicker around its stalk. It's better able to face the strong winds it might experience in the future. Its roots have a firm grasp of the soil it is in. We, too, can be stimulated to grow through trials as Elder Scott mentioned.

Faith really is like a little seed. We just need to nourish it with actions of obedience to God through making and keeping covenants and obeying His commandments.