Cliff Loesch December 30, 2007 John 12:24 Cycles and Seasons We drove home to Wichita on Thursday after spending a couple of days at my parent's home in the Panhandle of Texas.  We beat the storm that was coming in.  But there was a thick fog that morning and the weather forecasters said to expect some wind-driven snow.  My Dad has help feeding the cattle this year.  But they have been feeding every other day and the main guy was in Houston and, long story short: with the possibility of a blizzard on the way, Dad wanted to put out some more hay for the cattle.  I helped with the feeding that morning (which was important to do) and we got on the road about noon-a little later than planned.  But the fog never lifted all morning and I don't think the temperature ever rose very much.  So we took off driving in a foggy, wintery wonderland.  Sometimes you couldn't see very far at all.  Other times you could see half a mile or so.  It was beautiful.  Every tree, every pasture, every barbed-wire fence was brilliantly white against the grey, foggy background.  But the wheat fields were not entirely white.  LaVonna pointed out how beautiful they were.  The green was still showing through the frost, and the fields were a beautiful grey/green color.  And I thought to myself, "How does the wheat endure?"      In John 12:24, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."  And while this is not a botany lesson per se, it does give some interesting insights into Jesus' life, as well as some insights into our own.  But that single seed which, if left alone, would simply stay a seed-for who knows how long?  Some seeds only last a short time.  But other seeds can last for centuries.  Scientists have grown a lotus from a twelve-hundred-year-old seed from China.  In 2005, some scientists sprouted a 2000-year-old date-palm seed found near the Dead Sea.  And wheat seeds from Pharaoh's tombs have been sprouted, although the plants did not last very long. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/12/MNGJND7G5T1.DTL)       For some seeds, their potential for life can lie dormant for a very long time.  And Jesus made the point that by giving up its single, solitary existence, one seed can give life to many more seeds.  Jesus was, no doubt, referring to his own coming death and resurrection.  Indeed the single life of Jesus has given life to many, indeed potential life to the world.  But in other ways, Jesus' observation about the cycles of seeds and harvests applies to all of us.      I asked Google if a seed really dies when it's planted.  I wondered if that was the way science views what happens when you plant a seed.  I didn't stay with it very long-but I did not find a satisfying answer.  I'm not sure anyone can really explain what happens, exactly, when a seed is planted.  Certainly something triggers it into action.  But the temperature has to be right, and there has to be some moisture available.  The seed laid to rest underground begins to absorb moisture-which is the same thing that would happen to it if it was going to just die.  But when it takes on enough moisture then something happens inside and it begins to sprout.  No matter which direction the wheat seed finds itself under the ground it always sends its roots down and its shoots up.  Then after the shoots grow into a few blades above ground, weather arrives that kills your begonias-but doesn't hurt the wheat.  In fact, the freezing weather (as inhospitable as it seems) is just what the wheat needs.  A blanket of snow, they say, is especially good for the wheat at this stage.      But I wonder-if you or I were in the place of the wheat, what would this whole process seem like to us?  Being buried underground; making a little attempt at something new: sprouting little roots and shoots that seem really vulnerable at this stage; making an attempt to grow; then being hit by a blast of winter.  Would we embrace it all and say, "Ah, this is just a normal part of my growth cycle.  I am becoming.  I am pushing my way up into the sun, and I'm on my way to producing a head-full of new grain."  Or would we say, "My, this is unpleasant?"      Our tendency is to be dissatisfied with the cycles and seasons of life.  We don't see the value of being planted in the soil.  We are annoyed by the inhospitable frosts that we encounter.  The winter seems too long.  And as we emerge from our dormancy when the weather warms up and we begin to grow, how often does the spring seem too violent?  Too windy?  Too many storms?  Too many threats of hail?  Too many insects?  Or not enough moisture?  The road forward always seems treacherous.  And even at the end of the journey what does the seed find?  Need I remind you that success for the seed means getting violently cut down by a sickle and then fed through a threshing machine?  And then most of the new seeds are sent off to be pulverized while a few remain behind to start the whole process all over again.      Indeed, you can look at any situation through a negative lens or a positive.  And instead of seeing all the problems that lie ahead for the seed involving temperature and moisture and insects and storms, you can also see the life-giving nature of this cycle.  Jen Allbritton points out that "It was the cultivation of grains--members of the grass family--that made civilization possible.  [And] since wheat is one of the oldest known grains, its cultivation is as old as civilization itself."  (http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/wheatyindiscretions.html)  Giving life is what Jesus was talking about.  It's why he used wheat as a metaphor in this way-along with the idea of multiplication-that the one grain can multiply and reach out in many directions.      And when you see the bigger picture, then the cycles and seasons of life are not quite as disturbing.  Perhaps we can begin to see the beauty of each phase.  And thinking of that image of the grey/green snow-we know for a fact that the frost is not injuring the wheat at all.  It's good for it.  Even still, I like to think of that green showing through the frost as a symbol of hope.  The winter may be long and it may be inhospitable.  But if you look at it in the right way it can also be spectacularly beautiful.  And you can remind yourself to keep hope alive: spring is on the way.      As we stand on the brink of a new year, how do we view the cycles and seasons of our lives?  Do we grow a year older filled with humor and gratitude and hope?  Or do we look at the future with resignation or fear or with regret?  I think we can see that Jesus embraced the cycles and seasons of life.  And I think we can see that even as unpleasant as some parts of his journey turned out to be, he saw the hope: he saw the single kernel that produces many seeds; and he saw the eternal rather than the temporal.      In thinking about the grain of wheat again-the potential for life and for multiplication simply lies dormant within the kernel of wheat until its internal systems are triggered through the right environment.  And that potential can lie dormant for a long time.  Likewise, I think there are probably many things that lie dormant within each of us.  Very few people, I believe, reach their full potential in life.  Perhaps this New Year will be the time for some possibility that lies dormant within us to begin to emerge.      The best environment for growth for you and for me is to keep hope alive.  May each of you be filled with hope in this New Year.