This is a tale of two families. They lived next to each other on the same street in suburbia, USA. From the outside, both of these houses appeared to be very similiar, but inside was a different story. In the first house the children were happy. Their days were filled with private school, karate, horse back riding, and music lessons. These parents worked hard to provide the very best education and they knew all there was to being the perfect parents. The house was filled with books, and a grand piano sat in the corner of the fireplaced living room. They spent summers together in the family vacation home. Dad played in a jazz band and mom sang in ladies church choir. They were educated, sensitive, caring and supportive. They were the perfect American family. In the second home the mother was a 6th grade drop-out. She ran away from home and lived on the streets for many years. The dad was a workaholic, immigrant trying to live the "American dream". He was never home and never talked to or played with his children. The mother wanted to be a good mother, but was deficient in every possible way. The mother was a drug addict and the victim of years of sexual abuse. The father was a wife-beater and adulterer. The marriage came to an end after 9 years. This family did everything wrong, but they had ONE thing that the first family did not have. The mother had deep within her heart a seed....a seed of hope and life. A seed waiting to be planted in fertile groud...waiting to become a lush green tree planted along the side of the rivers edge.This mother while on the streets had a brief encounter with LIFE...just a small tiny seed of life. She saw Jesus in a women, she saw Him in her eyes. She saw Love and a seed was planted. The women said "Jesus loves you" and she talked to the mother about prayer and the ONE who is LOVE. A small tiny seed planted! Now that mother went on with her life, making evey mistake under the sun, but the seed was always there. When that mother became pregnant she spoke life to that little baby in her womb. She prayed for that baby, she prayed that her little baby would know Jesus like that women did. And when that baby was born, she talked to her about Jesus and told her about the women who taught her to pray. She told her child about the women who had LOVE in her eyes and the child never ever forgot it.I was that child. My mother gave me physical life, then planted a seed of spiritual life deep in my heart. I am eternally grateful to her. No, she was not perfect, but she gave me the best she had to offer. It wasn't much, but it was the beginning of life in me!!! We may never see the results of the seeds we plant on this side of eternity. It may seem so insignificant to say to someone "Jesus loves you," but that small tiny seed could save an entire family from death!!! People don't need religion or theology...they need living water! Listen to His still smaill voice, be obedient to plant those tiny seeds and leave the rest up to HIM!!!
