By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

Ever heard of reforestation by using seed balls? This has already been done successfully across parts of the Sahara desert, in Thailand and even in the Amazon.

The seed balls are formed by rolling clay (preferably red volcanic clay) into a ball with a variety of seeds and compost on the inside. These bulbs are then thrown from an airplane across an area that has become deserted due to flooding, natural disasters or excessive human deforestation. What is remarkable, is to see how these balls that laid in the ground for a long time can, given the right circumstances (sunshine and rain), germinate and harvest.

In our own lives there are times or areas that feel like a desert. Our health, finances, relationships, work environment or maybe even our dreams? What we have to realize is that by praying about it, we are sowing seeds. Sometimes these seeds immediately germinate and bear fruit. Others take time.

In Ecclesiastes 11: 6, however, we are encouraged to keep on sowing: “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." In Galatians 6:7b we read: "A man reaps what he sows." And in 1 Corinthians 3:7 it is written: “. . .  the one who plants or the one who waters is not the important one. God is the important One. He makes it grow.”

Is there an area of your life that feels deserted? What are you doing about it? Are you praying, fasting and talking to God because you believe that He is in control of your life?

May we remind ourselves that when we pray in faith, we are throwing seed balls over that area together with God. At the right time it will germinate and the harvest may completely surprise us altogether. God bless.

Father God, thank you that You hold all the "seed balls" in your hand. Please help me to completely trust You – even in hard times. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.