New parable: See the flowers in the seeds

Monday  |  May 20, 2013  |  08:00 AM

At the beginning of summer, an elderly mother wanted to give her two grown daughters a small but thoughtful gift to symbolize the joy of the season. At the local drugstore, she found a selection of seeds on sale for 10 cents each. She bought an envelope of zinnia seeds for each of her daughters.

“This will be perfect!” she thought. “We reap what we sow.” The first daughter thanked her mother, yet thought, “I don’t have time to plant seeds, much less wait for flowers to grow.” When she got home, she stashed the packet of seeds in a dark corner of a kitchen drawer. She never thought about the seeds again.

The second daughter thanked her mother and pictured the beautiful blossoms the seeds would yield. She brought the seeds home and went directly into her backyard to choose the perfect spot for them in her garden. Once she found the ideal area, she prepared the soil, added compost, planted the seeds and watered them.

The zinnias grew tall and lush all summer long. In fact, they grew so thickly that the woman thinned some out and transplanted them to other areas of her garden. The flowers were large and brilliantly colored, pink and orange and red. “Where did you get those outrageous flowers?” the one sister asked the other. “Didn’t you plant your seeds?” The first daughter blushed. “I didn’t imagine a dime’s worth of seeds would do all that,” she said.

The second daughter’s zinnias continued to grow beautifully straight and vibrant. They bloomed past Labor Day. They bloomed past Halloween. She even cut a gorgeous bouquet of zinnias for her mother’s Thanksgiving table. And when the first frost finally brought an end to the long harvest, the woman cut back the plants and added them to her compost bin.

This article comes to you from Grace In Action (Our Sunday Visitor) courtesy of your parish or diocese.