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SEEDS, PLANTS
and
SOULS
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 17 BASKING AND BREATHING
Plants need air to grow.
Air must be available above and below ground,
and so soils must be porous to allow it in.
The gases diffuse in and out of the plant
all over its surface,
from the roots, stems to the leaves.
The way in which plants use air is twofold.
One way occurs in the leaves and green parts of the plant.
The green material, chlorophyll,
enables the plant to use the sun's energy
to make complex chemicals
from carbon dioxide in the air
and water drawn up by the roots.
The process is called photosynthesis.
The chemicals
- called carbohydrates -
form the building blocks
from which the plant, and ultimately ourselves,
are made.
An important by-product of photosynthesis is oxygen,
which goes to make up the air we breath.
Without the photosynthesis of the plant kingdom,
animals would eventually use up the oxygen
in the atmosphere.
Thus in leaves, while there is light,
there is a continuous inflow of carbon dioxide
and outflow of oxygen.
Plants also respire like we do.
Some of the carbohydrates made in the leaves
are transported to other parts of the plant
and `burnt' using oxygen from the air
so as to produce energy
for making more complex materials.
A by-product of respiration is carbon dioxide,
such that it is really the reverse of photosynthesis.
But fortunately for animals and ourselves,
plant respiration goes on at a rate
that allows them to be net producers of food and oxygen
which we, and all animals, need to live on.
Respiration goes on all over the plant,
oxygen being absorbed
by the roots, stems and leaves,
and carbon dioxide given out.
Although you cannot see it,
a plant is continually absorbing gases
and giving them out.
In the spiritual plant isn't this analogous to prayers
- our own and those of others -
interacting with the Holy Spirit and the spiritual food
to help us grow healthily.
Because air is so vital,
and without it we quickly die
- much the same can be said for prayer.
It is not something we do just on Sundays,
or only in the morning or evening,
but something we should be doing all day.
"Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything,
by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
(Philippians 4:6)
That is what Paul wrote
in his letter to the Philippian Christians,
and what we must do too.
Jesus left us with several examples of what prayer,
or conversation with God (his Father),can be like.
One, of course,
is the "Our Father"
which Jesus gave his disciples as a model for prayer.
He said to them:
"This, then, is how you should pray:
`Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive is our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
(Matthew 6:9-13)
.
Just before Jesus was arrested
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
he prayed all night to gain strength for his coming trial.
After he had finished praying for his disciples,
he finished up praying for all those
who would believe the disciples' message:
"My prayer is not for them (the disciples) alone.
I pray also for those
who will believe in me through their message,
that all of them will be one,
Father,
just as you are in me,
and I am in you.
May they also be in us
so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me,
that they may be one as we are one:
I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity
to let the world know that you sent me
and have loved them even as you have
"Father,
I want those you have given to me
to be with me where I am,
and to see my glory,
the glory you have given me
because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Righteous Father,
though the world does not know you,
I know you,
and they know that you have sent me.
I have made you known to them,
and will continue to make you known
in order that the love you have for me
may be in them
and that I myself may be in them."
(John 17 20:26)
Isn't that a beautiful prayer?
And isn't it sad how we have failed so often
to breath in that prayer and let it bear fruit in us?
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