“God has not called you to build skyscrapers but to plant seeds.”
Once in a while, I wonder if I should establish a “Soo Inn School for Spiritual Mentoring”. Would this be a meaningful legacy, an institution that would pass on what I believe is a biblical, culturally relevant model for relational transformation? Of course the years are passing and with the passing of each year, the possibility of this happening lessens.
Recently I voiced this question to a dear friend, Stanley Tay. In response he shared with me something he received from a spiritual director. The spiritual director told him:
“God has not called you to build skyscrapers but to plant seeds.”
It had been a word for him. I believe it was a word for me, too.
Instead of thinking of building institutions, I should focus on planting seeds. A skyscraper feels like a static metaphor. But planting seeds … now that feels like a living exercise, an adventure that is outside one’s control. As you sow you never know which seeds will take and grow. You don’t know how they will grow, and how they will reproduce. Indeed, what grows from the seeds may in turn produce seeds that will keep the growth going in the years ahead, changing and adapting as circumstances change.
Every sermon I preach, every talk I deliver, every conversation I have, everything I write, every prayer I utter — may they be seeds that give glimpses of life in the Kingdom of God. May they take root and grow and multiply.
If God were to tell me to establish an institution, I would obey. But for now, I will continue to plant seeds.
