Seeds

Joe took a series of 7 photos of a tulip and posted them on both Joetography and Facebook as the "Anatomy of a Tulip." I wanted to write a snappy response along the lines of "hey, think you can post a few more photos of that tulip?" But I was instead captivated by one of the photographs particularly -- it was exquisite.

And it reminded me of a topic that had been rumbling around in my head for awhile. At church recently, they distributed packets of seeds to anyone who would take them (attached to the packets was a prayer request form, but that is not the point of this post). Drew and I picked one -- and it happened to be seeds for tomato plants. They look just like the seeds in the photograph I found and posted here.

Seeds are somewhat indescribable. What do the seeds in the photo look like? Well, we could try to describe them, but the description would be inadequate. The seeds are small, rounded in one dimension, but somewhat flattened in another, with a beige color that defies real description, and overall just bland.

Yet the power seeds pack is amazing. Put that seed in dirt and water it, and up from the ground comes a green plant with red fruit (a tomato is a fruit, right?) and full of nutrition. From that tomato, we will derive salads, sauces, and even a part of a pizza or pasta dish.

I have no idea how it works. I don't understand how it produces its fruit. What type of coding is written on the seed? Scientists understand it, but they can't create it from scratch either.

I was thinking about all this one day when I also thought that we've lost something in our modern lifestyles. I don't really think about the mystery and magnificence of agriculture because I rely on big corporations to grow the food I eat, and I buy flowers fit for planting when I visit the outdoor market up by McLean Hardware (instead of handling the seeds and nurturing growth from "nothing"). The patience . . . the faith, too, I suppose . . . of a farmer is lost on me when I can usually find some instant gratification. But becoming conditioned to getting what I want when I want it puts me at odds with the way people develop.

Teilhard de Chardin was right, but how soon I forget what he said.