SEEDS, SAPLINGS, AND THE CHILDREN WE RAISE

 

I was thinking this morning.... On Friday, June 5, I was a special guest at RA International School (RAIS) to join the early years pupils, ages 3 to 6, in celebrating World Environment Day. After a short indoor session where we talked about going green, we all stepped outside to plant some trees together.

With the children gathered around excitedly, we planted the first tree, the perfume tree (Ylang-Ylang), popularly called Queen of the Night. At the second spot, we planted a Queen Palm. At the third spot, we were about to plant a mast tree when a bright little boy, about four years old, asked, “If trees grow from seeds, why are we planting saplings instead of seeds?”

It was such an innocent but thoughtful question. We explained that the saplings had first started as seeds in a nursery where they were carefully nurtured to improve their chances of survival before being transplanted into the open ground.

As we explained, my thoughts drifted back to my childhood in Warri. In those days, many of us were thrown straight into the fields as seeds and not saplings. There were no nurseries to cushion us. We started trekking to school from very young ages, exposed early to the harsh realities of life. Yet, by God’s grace, many survived and grew strong.

Today’s children are more like nurtured saplings, protected within high walls, surrounded by comforts, cartoons, video games, Capri-Sun, and Choco-Milo. There is nothing wrong with either approach. Some seeds survive the storm. Some saplings flourish because they were first protected.

Perhaps the lesson is that every generation grows differently. Some are planted as seeds and learn to survive storms early. Others are nurtured first as saplings before facing the winds of life. Neither method is completely right or wrong. What matters is that, whether seed or sapling, we grow roots strong enough to stand, branches wide enough to give shade, and hearts humble enough to remember the hands that watered us along the way.

As we planted those trees with the children that morning, I was reminded that growth takes patience, guidance, and grace. Some of us grew through hardship, others through careful nurturing, but ultimately, it is God who gives the increase. 2nd Cor 3:6 says, “Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase".

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey