By Travis Giauque

Have you ever noticed that when you’re visiting with others and the topic of your life direction comes up—what you're doing, where you're headed—it often turns into a brainstorming session? Before you know it, people are offering up ideas, giving advice, or suggesting paths they think you should take. These ideas can take root in your mind like little seeds, and in that moment, you have a choice: will you grow that seed, or will you let it go?

This is the Law of Gender and Gestation in action.

This law teaches that for anything to grow—whether it’s in nature or in life—there must first be a seed planted, followed by nurturing and time. In nature, you often see gender roles contributing to creation, but sometimes one organism carries both roles. In the same way, we often have to play both parts in our own personal growth: the one who plants the idea and the one who nurtures it.

When I was growing up, people would ask me the classic question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I didn’t always have a clear answer. That’s when my well-meaning parents would offer suggestions based on what they saw in me—careers or paths they believed would fit my talents. I took those ideas to heart. I planted their seeds in my soil and did my best to nurture them.

Even into adulthood, I continued to take the thoughts and ideas of others—people I trusted, people I admired—and I tried to grow those seeds too. Often, they produced fruit. Those ideas helped feed me and my family, and for that I was grateful. But over time, I realized something: I was living off the fruit of someone else’s vision. It was good fruit, nourishing even—but it wasn’t my favorite. I was surviving, not thriving.

Here’s what I learned: we are constantly being influenced. Our minds are fertile ground, and seeds are being planted all the time—by friends, family, social media, advertising. Some of these ideas are good. Some are not. But what we must remember is this: our own minds are capable of generating thousands of original seeds—ideas inspired directly by God—that can bear fruit we actually want to eat.

Are the thoughts you dwell on good? Are they coming from a good place? That matters. Because just like in nature, you can’t plant a bad seed and expect good fruit. And you can trust that a truly good seed will bear good fruit—if nurtured correctly.

Leslie Householder, in Hidden Treasures, writes:
“Plant good seeds by creating a new, prosperous idea for your life. You have the power to create a picture in your mind that is completely original.”

That brings us to the second part of this law: gestation. Every seed—every dream or idea—has a natural incubation period. It needs time to grow. And just like in a garden, we can’t force the process. If you overwater a seed, you’ll drown it. If you keep digging it up to “check on it,” you’ll kill it.

You have to trust the process.

Once you’ve planted a good seed—an idea or goal that feels right—you nurture it with faith, effort, and patience. Then… let it be. Let nature do its part. You don’t need to know how it all comes together, just as you don’t need to understand exactly how a seed breaks open and becomes a sprout. You only need to know that it will.

So when you’ve done all you can, stop worrying if you don’t see results right away. Don’t panic that there’s no corn popping out of the soil the next morning. Just rest in the peace of knowing that something is happening. The roots are growing. The right people, opportunities, and resources are gathering. And in the perfect time—not a moment too late or too soon—your seed will bear fruit.

And this time, it’ll be fruit you love.

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