Will the soil of your life bear fruit?

I like good coffee.

And I'm a sucker for growing anything from seed.

The promise of a bountiful harvest or beautiful, fragrant flowers is enough to capture my imagination.

And so naturally, when the opportunity presented itself to buy 4 seeds from a coffee plant grown in the mountainous region of Ethiopia, Africa, it was an easy decision to drop $100 to buy enough green coffee to get these four tiny seeds.

Cherries growing on a coffee plant

As I was planting them tonight, I thought of the miraculous process by which a small seed transforms into a vibrant plant with leaves, roots, and fruit.  Just one of these beans needs to sprout to provide hundreds of coffee cherries that could eventually become a fruitful harvest that culminates in a cup of delicious pour over coffee.

Yeshua talked often about this agrarian imagery that's falls on the deaf ears of our modern culture.

The kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a tree where birds rest in its shade, people partake in its fruit, and enjoy culinary delicacies.

A farmer scatters seed on the road the rocks, and the weeds, all with varying results. But the seed that falls on rich soil is the one that reaps a harvest to write home about.

A good tree is pruned and kept alive in order to bear more fruit, while trees that produce nothing, are chopped down and used as firewood.

“Every good tree bears good fruit.”
—Matthew 7:17

We're out of touch and so we miss the connection to the soil and the fact that we can't force a seed to grow—we can only cultivate the right conditions so that God's plan will produce fruit.

Which leads me to some questions:

What kind of soil are you? Would the seeds germinate and take root? Or would they produce shallow roots only to be knocked over in the next windstorm?

Are you cultivating an environment for God's spirit to work? To plant seeds of trusting faith that could move mountains?

Will you weather the storms of life, knowing that you are rooted in the true vine?

Who knew this coffee plant would lead to so many questions. I'll let you know if it bears any fruit. 🙏

4 coffee beans, ready to be planted

Rich soil in a potting container