Seeds

During Week 23, we planted some broccoli seeds. As of today (Saturday, March 6), all the seeds have sprouted -- even Bryce's and Lucy's and John's. Everyone in the class believed me when I told them that the little specks I gave them were broccoli seeds and that they were good. Their trust in me and what I told them led them to plant them, check on them each morning, make sure they were warm, and as they began to sprout - to begin to nourish them with water and with light. What could be the motivation for such behavior? A future broccoli/chicken casserole, of course.

Nearly all our lives we have been told by people we can trust that there is a "seed" which we should plant within our hearts. That seed is the "word" (Alma 32:28). And what is the word? "...cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for [our] sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, .... " (see 33:22 and 23). Once we plant that seed, how can we know that it is a good seed? "...it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me" (Alma 32:28) and "it will strengthen [my] faith" (v. 30). And then how do we nourish that seed? "...as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by [our] faith." And what will that seed produce if we nourish it "by [our] faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof" (32:41)? "...by and by [we] shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and [we] shall feast upon this fruit even until [we] are filled, that [we] hunger not, neither shall [we] thirst" (32:42). And in answer to one of Alma's questions, "...is not this real?" (v. 35) -- we will be able to answer with conviction: "Yes, this is real." Indeed, we will know, in very personal ways, the answer to "the great question" Alma mentioned in Alma 34:5 -- Jesus is the Christ.