When Wheat Falls to the Ground

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. - John 12:24

Peter told Jesus that he couldn’t go to the cross and die. It would mean the failure of their movement, after all. And yet Jesus was committed to it. Jesus seems to know that there is a deeper magic in the universe, as Aslan might say. It is in the downward path that we actually become more of who we were destined to become. It’s in surrender that we find love. And even death does not have the last word.

How much are you committed to your plans succeeding? Is there a different way for you to think about these things? Join with our friend, the late Catholic priest Henri Nouwen, to think about these things:

There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success often brings fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one anther’s wounds. Let’s remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness. - Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey