the seed going into the ground as “dying,” because I don’t think of a seed going into the ground as “dying.” I think of it as just beginning to live. But in one sense, a planted seed is dying. As its outer shell disintegrates, it ceases its self-contained existence as a seed. It has been given over to the earth. In the same way, God grows his kingdom only as we take our hands off of what little portion he’s given to us, “die” to our control of it, and plant it into the world. That feels just as scary