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THE MUSTARD SEED
He put before
them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard
seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the
smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the
greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the
air come and make nests in its branches.”
I don’t really “get” gardening. It’s a
sheer miracle to me that you can throw a handful of dried-up,
worn-out seeds and expect anything good to come from them at
all. These little seeds are covered with dirt with a wink and a
prayer, and before you know it, SPROING! Vegetables! Fruit!
Kansas sunflowers the size of hubcaps! All of this beauty and
sustenance from tiny, dried-up seeds.
We are like those seeds: dried up, worn
out. Some days, we don’t look like we can amount to much. Buried
under the soil of daily life, it is sometimes hard to see the
sun. We strain to feel the nurturing rain. In our darkest
moments, when we are dirty with disappointment, fear and pain,
and find it impossible to believe in ourselves, SPROING – a
shoot comes forth! Leaning into the comforting warmth of the
sun’s rays, a seedling takes root. And grows.
God is quite the gardener. Just enough sun,
the perfect amount of rain. Somehow, God even uses the compost
(if you know what I mean!) to do some good.
And so, we sow. We sow the seeds of faith,
the tiniest, mustard-seed-sized seeds we can muster. Where we
see miniscule, God sees an opportunity for growth beyond
imagination. And God blesses the harvest.
God, you go with us to the dark places.
Where we feel buried, bring sunshine and rain, growth and new
life. Amen
Tera Michelson
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