“While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease,” Genesis 8:22.

It is a new year with new opportunities, desires and expectations. Time is apportioned to everyone, but what we do with it counts. God has given to everyone time, talents and responsibilities in measures and abilities, but what we do with it counts. At the end of the just ended year stocks is taken and accounts crosschecked. The New Year has given us another opportunity to re-stock, access and make amends and what we will do with the privileges, responsibilities, goodwill, human resources that the year will bless us with will determine the state of our stock taking and accountability at the end of the day.

According to Merriam-Websters online dictionary, seeds are defined as: the grains or ripened ovules of plants used for sowing. It is also ‘the fertilised ripened ovule of a flowering plant containing an embryo and capable normally of germination to produce a new plant.’
Furthermore, it is a propagative animal structure or the condition or stage of bearing seed; a source of development or growth.

These mature fertilised ovule are of the angiosperms and gymnosperms. They contain the food or nutrients needed for growth, which are capable of surviving an extended period of time until the conditions are favourable for germination and growth.

Biblically, seed has several meanings and connotations. Discussing seed theologically or academically is vast. God designed his creation to have a planting seeds, as well as getting a harvest at the end of a season. The production of seeds vary with time and season; some seeds are good in the winter, while some better in summer; some take a short time to germinate and bear fruits, while others take months even years to germinate to maturity and bear seed fruits. Some seeds only produce once a year, while others can produce multiple times annually.

Seeds are designed for the reproduction of any specie, some of which have their seeds in them while others have their seeds visible; those whose seeds are in them are planted by their specie and those whose seeds are visible are reproduced through their seeds. The plantain has its seed in itself that is the reason it is planted through its sucker, while the oranges are planted with their seed.

Patient study of the Bible reveals several forms of seeds — the human masculine seed also known as the sperm or offspring, the natural grass seed, the fruit seed, the word of God, the body of Christ, the Church, among others.
Every seed is required to be discovered, preserved, planted, nursed, nurtured, fertilised where necessary and watched to grow into maturity, and produce seeds for harvest. When a man has his seed, he has options: to plant it, eat it, sell it, give it out, neglect it, allow it to decay, get infected by insects, expose it to good environment that will enable it to grow and produce.

Know This:
•A little seed can become a mighty tree
•A small quantity of seed can produce tons of seeds
•A seed is very potent
• Seeds are selective of the place they are planted; you don’t plant them in every place and anyhow. For every good harvest, there is a right method, the right ground, the right season and the healthy seed.

Man As A Seed
At creation the man was planted to care and nurture God’s creation and preserve them for further multiplication; himself was created to multiply.“God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and every living creature that moves on the earth,” Genesis 1:28.

Man is created with the responsibility of safe keeping God’s creation and enabling its continuation. When men rather than keeping these creations of God kills it, they violate the essence of their own existence. We are placed variously in families, communities, environments, even in peoples’ life to enhance their existence, better their persons and enable their growth and continuity, anything short of this amounts to violation of natural and spiritual principles.

As a seed, we are sent to different and multiple locations to grow and reproduce our kind and species: the family, the church, the communities, among others. In these locations, we are planted to grow it, but there are certain factors we must consider, while we sow our seeds if growth and continuity will be achieved:

1. Do you have a seed? Having a responsibility is not enough; you must know what is expected of you and the time frame for such expectation. Every responsibility has a timingand a season. Many fail their generation because of negligence to the timing of life and responsibility. Some people have something and do not know its value because they failed to accept their true calling and understand who they are and why they exist or owning their responsibilities. The moment you are assigned a task; it becomes yours until you hand it over to the one who gave it to you or the preceding generation. People fail because they fail to understand that who they will become tomorrow is the product of who they are today. If you cannot be faithful in a small task you are not qualified for a greater task.

2. What is the nature of the seed you have? Nothing is to be neglected in life. Everything life throws at you has a blessing with it. Something might look simple, but very important. Some people are less productive because they consider their task as simple and treat it with less importance. Value who you are and what you have. The way you treat your responsibility determines how others will respect it. If people disrespect your job you lack honour.

3. Be time conscious and intentional. Time is essential when it comes to seed sowing. Every seed has the best planting time and season and the best planting soil and method. No man is immune to loss of time. Remember that to everything there is a time and a season to every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Apportion time to whatever you do this year. Avoid what kills your time and disvalues your responsibility.

4. Be careful of those you involve in your seed sowing. Not everyone is important in the journey of life. Some people are like Jonah, if they enter the same boat with you and journey towards the same route they will attract the storm for you and make you loss treasures and values. Sometime people suffer lack of productivity because the wrong people are in their company. Being good is not enough, surround yourself with good people; this means that not everyone is important. Sometime you have to be intentional in cutting off certain people from your life if you must sow a good seed and expect a good harvest.

The Nuggets
• Don’t eat today what you are supposed to plant for tomorrow; doing that means roasting your tomorrow for temporal satisfaction.
• Give attention to protecting your responsibility; what you fail to keep today can cripple you tomorrow.
• The seed is all about the future; if you plant it, it will continue to ages, but if you eat it today, it goes into extinctions.
•When you plant your seed water it; care is placing value to what is already yours.
• Venerable Stephen Wolemonwu is the Rector, Ibru Ecumenical Centre,Agbarha-Otor 08035413812.