"The Cotton Seed" storybook written by Shelley Breedlove, illustrated by Stacy Cain

THIS WEEK was Christmas, as you probably know. I had a very wonderful Christmas: on Christmas Eve I did my science fair experiment in a parking lot and shot an airsoft rifle (shoots plastic BBs for my experiment), and in the evening we watched "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life" and we ate corned beef and cabbage with bread.
On Christmas I got to go to my grandma's house, and we had grits and egg casserole, fruit and hot chocolate, and all the babies came and made everyone happy. Yesterday I had a wonderful day at the town center with my parent while Izzy was with her friends (one is visiting from Egypt!) and Joey was at Uncle Danny's house. It was a miraculously beautiful day, and I saw a knot of rainbow in the clouds near the sun while the sky was still blue.
Today I want to share with you a storybook that came in the mail: It was illustrated by my Aunt Stacy and written by her twin sister, Shelley, when they were younger. My mom said she's buy a copy, and it turned up in the mail. It's called "The Cotton Seed," and I'm going to 'read' it to you. But it has a copyright, so no cheating.
"My life started in this dark, gritty place when God woke me and said, "It's time to grow." "But God, " I said, "I don't want to. It's not great down here, but it's warm and I have everything I need." God simply repeated, "It's time to grow." (turn page) So, grumbling all the way, I grew. I came to like the cool breezes and told God, "This isn't so bad." Well, I should have known better because not so long after, God spoke to me and said, "It's time to go." (turn page) "But God," I whined, "sometimes the wind hits me hard and slaps my back, but surely this is as good as it gets?" God simply repeated, "It's time to go." (turn page) So a farmer came and picked my bushy head, stuffed me in a sack with about a hundred other grumbling guys, and we were all carried to a place where we were shaken free of all our seeds and then stretched into something called thread. (turn page) Lying on the floor wrapped on my spool I mumbled, "This is okay." I quickly shut my mouth tight but it was too late. I winced as I heard God say, "It's time to sew." (turn page)"God, have You lost it," I excitedly screamed, "I can't sew, I'm a thread for pete's sake! All the other stuff at least made sense, but this I can't do!" "It's time to sew." God patiently repeated. "Oh, all right, if that's what You want." I agreed. (turn page) No sooner did I say this than I was picked up and attached to a loom where I began to bw used in the design. "God," I said softely, "not that I'm complaining, but how am I going to be important or special in this? I've always been at least a little different, but there are so many of us no one will ever see me now." (turn page) God softly answered, "since the beginning you have fought Me and told me that you knew what was best, and even though at this very moment you can't see the importance of your place, you are part of a great design." (turn page) I did not argue, but simply sighed. For a long time the loom worked and more threads were added. With each thread I sighed at how tiny I was. Finally the loom stopped and we were removed and hung on a wall. (turn page) Across from the wall was a mirror, but I couldn't look at it because I knew it would just make me feel worse. I sighed and told myself to just be happy that this was a quiet place, but God heard my thoughts and said, "Little child, it's time to know." (turn page) "God please," I begged, "I'm unhappy enough. Just leave me alone." So, of course, He simply repeated, "Little child, it's time to know." So, though I grumbled under my breath, I looked across the room at the mirror. (turn page)There, surrounded by all the other threads, was me. Brilliant purple, zigzagging through the most beautiful picture I had ever seen. Tears began to fall as I cried, "I'm sorry! I didn't know! I didn't know!" (turn page) "Of course you didn't little one," my loving Father replied, "I didn't tell you everything because I wanted you to have faith in Me." "But God, I didn't have faith. I fought You the whole way! I don't deserve this!" I sobbed. (turn page) He replied, "Of course you don't. I gave it to you freely because I love you." Shocked dry of tears by His words, I said what I should have been saying from the beginning. Simply, "I love You." "Thank You." " (end, and remember there's a copyright and I don't want to get in trouble)
Man, I really like this story. It's about us, and it's about God. Every time we get comfortable with a situation, God has somewhere else He wants to take us. Notice every time he does that, we are unhappy about it because it's not easy. It's hard to leave where we are and what we do and who we're with, but He calls us nonetheless. And once we say, "Fine, have it You're way," He does have it His way. We're in no position to stop Him from doing anything. Notice also that once we accept what His plan has for us to be doing and experiencing, we realize "This isn't so bad." It's better than where we were before, even if we don't know it.
It's true, sometimes it's easier or harder than other times to undergo a change. And sometimeswe have to stop thinking about what we've lost to realize we've gained much more. I wrote this last night: "Sometimes the Lord takes down on tree so you can see the birds' nest in the next. Sometimes, the Lord takes down one mountain so you can see the sunrise coming up between two more." Lately He's been teaching me that He really does have a wonderful plan going on, and a place for me, and each of us, to fit into it. If the cotton seed was content to stay it the dirt and ignore God, he'd never be in that amazing picture. He'd be useless there. God give us opportunities to learn things and be conditioned for what His plan holds. We're all part of it.
If you haven't seen this old film "It's a Wonderful Life," I strongly suggest you see it. It's technically a Christmas movie, so now's the bes time to try and find it. It makes it pretty clear that people have a very important purpose and a strong influence on other people. Without this or that person doing as he or she ought to do, things are gonna be different. So God works things out very, very beautifully so that there's a big picture. We can't see it, that's true, and the only thing we can do is trust Him and quit complaining. Even if we do complain, at the end we'll just be as startled as the cotton seed, amazed that GOD loves us. Us? Us! Little, whiny, dirty, needy us. He's going to clean us and grow us and teach us and use us, because He mad eus and He knows that we are beautiful and He can useful. After all, that is one of those amazing things only God does: He takes nothing and turns it into something, and something wonderful. He takes few and turns it into more than enough. He takes a cotton seed and makes it part of a lovely design. He takes sinners and makes them into people like the apostle Paul!
Well, then, let's not complain. I'm personally pretty excited to find out what the Lord has planned for me. I'm probably going to start whining when the time actually comes to start "growing" or "going," but for now I'm praying for strength to stand and endure in my faith in him during a time that is not so comfortable for me. This I pray for all of us Christians. We are part of something beautiful, a grce having been opened to all the believers of the world. It's a turbulent sea but the reward is great, so we should support and help each other, reminding each other not to "grumble" but to trust God. He really does have the best plan.