Have you ever had the experience of walking through an open field in late summer and feeling the sting of small cockleburs in your shoes and around your ankles?Those thin, brown weeds are armed with dozens of sharp spines that grab our socks and eventually work their way into the skin. They're terribly annoying.
But there is something interesting about cockleburs.
Inside those prickly seed pods are not just one, but several seeds, and they germinate in different years. If the first seed fails to sprout one year, due to a drought or other poor conditions, the second is still waiting in the ground. When the next season rolls around, it begins to open and grow. But if that one doesn't take roots, there is still a third seed waiting for the year after that. They are the original 'time release' capsules.
I was thinking the other day about these cockleburs as they relate to children.
We parents work so hard to teach certain concepts and civilities to our kids in the hopes that some of them are going to take root and grow. But many of those seeds fail to germinate and the effort seems in vain. The good news, however, is that this instruction can also be like a time release capsule. Or may lie dormant for a decade or more, and then suddenly break through the ground and sprout.
The key is to remain faithful to the cause - to continue planting seeds and to not get discouraged. The harvest may be in years to come, but it's worth the wait.
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