ROOTED AND GROUNDED: PLANTING SEEDS
A seed contains the all the genetic information to produce another plant like the one from which it came. Isn’t it amazing how a tiny seed sprouts and grows into a plant many times larger and more complex?
An acorn, a larger seed, will grow into an oak tree many times its size. And one kernel of corn becomes two to four ears on a stalk, each with as many as five hundred kernels.
Some seeds (i.e. petunia, lettuce, and carrot) are so tiny, it’s difficult to separate and plant them one at a time. Several seeds are planted together and thinned out as seedlings or when transplanted once they grow.
And, although there are exceptions, most plants need soil, water, and sunlight to grow roots and remain firmly in the ground until maturity. The right growing conditions are important. 
Jesus used the planting of crops to describe the response of people who hear the gospel. Luke records the Parable of the Sower:
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” Luke 8: 5-8 NKJV
Are you like the hard ground, you’ve heard God’s Word but have refused to listen? Or are you like the rocky ground, at first listening but not allowing God’s Word to grow roots in your heart, and you’ve fallen away? Or is your heart thorny with the cares and attractions of the world that choke out the working of God’s Word in you? Or is your heart the good soil, allowing God’s Word to take root and grow and produce fruit for God’s kingdom?
You and I may never know the effect planting a seed of truth, kindness, and love will have in the life of another person. But God uses our words and actions to grow faith in our family and friends, in others who hear or read our words. We are responsible, as the Holy Spirit works in and through us, to sow the seeds and water them, but it is God who produces the fruit. (See 1 Corinthians 3:5-8) 
“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith: that you, being rooted and grounded in love…you may be filled with all the fulness of God*.” Ephesians 3:17, 19
*be strong spiritually
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