His Sunday school teacher had been telling the children about how God's Word works as a seed does, and that in order for it to grow and produce the things it promises, we must first plant it in our hearts.
The kids had all planted seeds in their cups and were told to take them home, set them in a window sill, water them regularly, and watch them grow.
Harrison was excited as he told me what he learned in class. As his teacher had instructed, we watered the seed and set the cup in the window.
The next morning Harrison raced to the kitchen to look at his cup, but to his disappointment, nothing was growing.
"Dad, let's dig it up. It's not working!" he exclaimed.
"Give it time," I responded. "Seeds need time to grow."
Every day we went through the same routine....
"Dad, it's not working! Let's dig it up and see what's wrong."
My repeated response was, "Give it time. If we dig it up, we'll kill the seed." But after two weeks, curiosity got the better of me, so I called Harrison and said, "It should have grown by now. Let's dig it up."
We poured all the dirt out of the cup on the kitchen table and methodically went through it with our fingers. I kept thinking, "Where is the seed? Where is the seed?"
"Harrison, there is no seed in here," I said.
He smiled and said, "I guess I forgot to plant it."
We had a good laugh and tossed the cup and the soil into the trash.
The moral is this: You can't expect a plant to grow where no seed has been sown—and you can't expect a person to be saved if the seed of God's Word has not been planted.
You can't expect faith to grow in your own heart if you're not planting the Word. As it says in Mark 4:26: "...So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground."
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers