Plant Seeds - The Squirrel - The Character of Creatures

This is a chapter from the book The Character of Creatures: What the Animal Kingdom Teaches Us About God and His Word.

Plant Seeds – The Squirrel

Did you know that many trees don’t just grow randomly, they were planted? Several animals plant trees with the most prolific being the squirrel. Wait a minute! I thought squirrels ate seeds and nuts? They do eat a lot, but they also store them underground all over the forest, burying them at just the right depth to take root. Sometimes squirrels forget where they left their seeds and nuts, sometimes they get distracted, and sometimes they don’t come back for other reasons. The result is a seed that grows into a tree!

We get to plant better seeds than those squirrels:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:6

Discussion:

1. Jesus told us the seed is the Word of God (Luke 8:11). He tells a parable where a man scatters seed on the road, in the rocks, in the weeds, and in freshly plowed ground. Which one do you think grew the best? Is your heart ready to receive his Word?

2. One of my favorite things to see is a tree growing through a rock or a sidewalk. The hardness of the surface shouldn’t allow a tree to grow there, but there is mighty power in that little seed. When we plant seeds of faith in hardened hearts God can make them grow and break through the hardest people!

3. Sometimes we think we are too little or insignificant to share Jesus, but that little squirrel is very small in comparison to the oaks and redwoods it is planting. Is the power in the squirrel or the seed? Is God’s power in the messenger or the message?

The seed of the Word continues to do its secret, invisible work when the minister has gone home and is resting in his bed–and indeed, long after he is laid in his grave. ~ Matthew Henry