Pollinators

We have all been in their presence.
The person who makes you feel as if you are their best friend.
The person who says just the right words at just the right time.
The person who walks away from you and there is a warmth for having been near them.

The person who is able to give you their undivided attention.
The person who doesn’t mind that they have not left the same spot all evening.
The person who doesn’t look up or around to see if there is someone better to talk to.
The person who listens, intently listens, to the heart of another.

The one who thirty minutes later can remember all you talked about.
The one who a week later will remember that your dog was sick.
The one who months later will ask about the ongoing care of your mother.
The one who remembers.

Why do we feel different in their presence?
What is it that lingers in the air long after they are gone?
Why is their conversation so uplifting even when you are talking about serious things?
Why do you leave the person wanting more?

Pollinators.

A pollinator is an animal or insect that causes plants to make fruit or seeds.
They do this by carrying pollen from one plant to another as they collect nectar.
This pollen fertilizes the plant.
Without the assistance of pollinators most plants cannot reproduce fruits and seeds.

Pollinators are necessary.
Pollinators help our gardens to grow.
Bees, hummingbirds, and some kinds of butterflies are the best pollinators.
They get their food from the flower of the plant and brush up against parts of the flower.

They only have to brush up against the flower for a second.
That is enough time to collect the pollen in order to spread it to the next flower.
Just a second to help a garden to grow.
Just a second to enable a garden to flourish.

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” (Matthew 9:36-38)

Jesus sent out His pollinators.
The ones who will go out and brush up against another.
The ones who must first brush up against Him to gather the Pollen of His Word.
The ones who will collect His pollen and spread that pollen to others.

In this pollination process, His Kingdom Garden will flourish.
There will be growth.
There will be beauty.
There will be a harvest.

Pollinators for Christ.
Spreading His Word from person to person.
Spreading the knowledge of Him to others.
Pollinating so that there will be more pollinators.

That is the way He intended.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and they conferred together. “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name. “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:13-20)

Peter and John were pollinators for Christ.
They could not help but spread the news about Him.
They could not be stopped from going, and telling, and spreading the Gospel.
What a lesson we can learn from them.

Pollination still needs to happen.
Go first to the Lord Jesus and His Word to gather the pollen of the Gospel.
Go to others and spread the Good News.
Genuinely care that they know Jesus as you genuinely care for them.

This pollination process must happen on this side of heaven.
We are growing a heavenly Garden on earth.
A Kingdom Garden that begins here and will be enjoyed there.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28: 18-20)

His Garden needs tending to make ready for the harvest.
Gather the pollen of His Word.
Spread the Good News from person to person.
God delights in using you to make his Garden grow.

Go!
Reach out to another, listen to them, and care for them.
What lingers in their presence long after you have gone is the fragrance of HIM.
Go! Be pollinators for Christ and His Kingdom.