made fruitful and multiplied, and are thereby forever increased.” (Arcana
Coelestia 1941) Whatever is good, whatever we have embraced from the Lord,
has eternal value. It cannot be lost or become unimportant. The seeds planted
here will grow in the next life.
Examples abound. In the New Church we speak of remains – knowledges
of truth and feelings of good that a person has received from earliest infancy.
All these are stored up in a person’s inner life, without one ever being lost,
and thereafter provide a means by which the Lord can reach us – touching us,
leading us. These remains enable us to take delight in learning what is true and
to recognize what is good in adult life.
When we are in a self-centered hellish state, it is through remains that the
Lord can be near to us and gradually lead us through them. These remains are
like seeds that were planted at a very tender age and often have lain dormant
very many years before being activated by the Lord. They are stored up within
and protected that they may be there when needed.
Other seeds are implanted in our adult lives. Every time we read the Word
seeds of truth are being planted in our minds. Although we may only be aware
of the literal stories, our spiritual mind is seeded with deeper truths. This
happens unknown to us, but those seeds are harvested in the spiritual world.
(Arcana Coelestia 4280:2)
The parable of the mustard seed shows another facet of this. The Lord
likened the kingdom of heaven to the smallest seed there is, which when
planted becomes a huge tree able to provide shade and a resting place for birds.
There are many things that appear to us to be inconsequential or very, very
small. Our striving to be good is at times like the mustard seed; it seems so
puny and ineffective that nothing much
could come from it. But we are taught,
that “if only a little spiritual good takes
root with a person it grows like a seed
in the ground.” (Ibid. 1100:8)
Also, “If a person by means of
combat against evils and sins has
acquired anything spiritual in the
world, be it ever so small, he is saved,
and afterwards his uses grow like a
grain of mustard seed into a tree.”
(Divine Love and Wisdom XVIIe) If he
“has acquired anything spiritual in the
world, be it ever so small, he is saved” –
an amazing teaching!
How much is necessary that we
For nothing, absolutely
nothing, is ever lost.
Many of the things
that we have started
here may take a long
time to develop, but
they remain with us
and are seeds that will
bear fruit forever.
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