A kind and generous man named John Chapman started a project in 1801 that is still bearing fruit today. He was from Massachusetts. One day he showed up in Licking Spring, Ohio, not to stake a claim to some land, but to plant some seeds. After planting the seeds he built a fence around the area and then moved on to another piece of land. Chapman traveled through towns in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan planting seeds as he went. When he lived in Massachusetts, he had heard that only a few fruit trees existed in the midwest, so he set out to plant as many seeds as he could.

The world could use some Christians to plant the spiritual seed, because men and women all around us are dying in sin. The Word of God is the seed that will give them life, food for their souls. Let's be just as industrious and selfless as we sow the seed of the Word; the most important seed of all,

Sowing in the morning,
sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide,
and the dewy eve.
Waiting for the harvest,
and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing,
bringing in the sheaves.

                      Knowles Shaw

We plant the seed-
God gives the increase.