¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV)

“Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity, and love.” (Thomas Merton)

This quote from Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk and prolific spiritual writer, is one of my favorite and sprung to mind today when reading in Ecclesiastes.

The “winged seeds” Merton speaks of is the eternity God has put into man’s heart. Everything we do moves us either closer or further away from what has been planted there. Again, Merton states it so well, “Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them”. We are unprepared because we do not take time to prepare ourselves daily for what God will bring forth in our lives. We are not regularly cultivating the good soil of our soul.

Freedom, in Christ brings about a spontaneity where pathways are opened to us to show love to each other and fulfill God’s calling on our lives.