As I look out my second story bedroom window all I can see are the leaves on a gorgeous maple tree in our backyard. Only a quarter of the leaves have fallen onto the once green grass, creating the most magnificent carpet of yellow, golds and browns. It’s beautiful actually.

What is most amazing is that I remember when Brian planted that tree in our backyard. It was a seedling that was transferred from the side of the house to where it majestically takes up all the air space in our tiny backyard. In 20 years that seedling has gone from 4 inches to over 40 feet high…. I don’t think I really thought about the potential of that seedling when we put it in the ground because it certainly didn’t look like much when we planted it. Yet over the years, without us even paying attention to it, there is stands - an everyday miracle.

We could have pulled the seedling out of the ground from the side of the house and put it in the compost but we didn’t. And now as I look out my window, I am so glad that we didn’t.

Isn’t that what we so often do? We abort the potential in the seed because we don’t plant it. We don’t sow it.

We do that with our talent. We’ll say things like, “So and so does that so much better than me, I won’t even bother doing that.” And we minimize and devalue our talent and then we abort planting it in the ground.

We do that with our treasure. We’ll say things like, “I don’t have much, so I can’t contribute much, so why to bother”. And we minimize and devalue our contribution and then we abort planting it in the ground.

We do that with our tongue (our words). We’ll say things like, “Who cares what I have to say. It’s really not that important. How can my words encourage them?” And we minimize and devalue our words and then we abort planting it in the ground.

And we do it with our time. We’ll say things like, “I’ve only got this much time. If I only had more time I would do something, but since I don’t have time, why to bother?” And guess what we do? We minimize and devalue our time and then we abort planting it in the ground.

Here’s the thing. I believe that God has given us the seeds to activate a miracle and those seeds are in your midst, just like the woman we talked about on Sunday (1 King 17:7-22). Check out last Sunday’s sermon if you missed it.

Please don’t devalue or minimize what God has blessed you with - your talent, tongue, treasure and time. I believe that when we start planting what we have we’ll begin to activate a miracle. So go ahead. Plant it!

I am going to joyfully rake leaves now!