Jesus said, "God's kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by someone who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows- and the farmer has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain." Mark 4:26-28
This is the weekend when many folk take to gardening in earnest. Although many will be putting in the soil small 'bedding plants' that already have leaves and flowers and stems, others will be planting seeds in anticipation of a future crop of beans or lettuce, carrots or cucumbers. When you first plant a seed, nothing much happens for a while. You water it and hope that the sun will shine, but for the most part, you don't do much. You just wait.
First time gardeners are often tempted to keep digging up the seeds to see if anything is changing; if anything is growing. What we soon discover is that how a seed grows into a plant or into a bush or into a tree is a mystery...we really don't know how it all happens; even scientists and farmers don't really understand how it all happens! All we can really say is that it is a miracle of God the Creator.
We aren't very good at living with mystery. We want to know how and why things work. We want to be able to control the outcome. When we plant something we want to make sure that we get the harvest we want when we want it. In his parable, Jesus reminds us that we aren't in control. We do our part to give the seed soil and water and after that we need to let go. We need to follow the example of the farmer in the parable who goes to bed and forgets about the seed, trusting that a power beyond his own is helping the seed to transform and to grow.
That can be hard for us: we want to make things happen in a given time span. We want some kind of guarantee that our efforts, like seeds will bear a certain kind of fruit. Sometimes we get anxious or discouraged or angry when the seeds we've planted in life don't seem to be growing the way we think that they should or as quickly as we think they should. But Jesus reminds us that the growth of seeds isn't just in our hands, growth is also in God's hands.
Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who wrote a diary while she and her family were hiding from the Nazis during WWII once said: "Everyone has inside of [them] a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"
Anne Frank reminds us that God plants in each one of us, seeds that have great potential to grow greatly: in love and in faithfulness; in expressing and sharing with others God's good news for living. These seeds that God has planted in us and in others, and indeed into the whole web of creation have the potential to grow far beyond our expectation or imagination and among people and in places where we don't always think anything much will happen. And then suddenly one day we wake up and it's as if overnight there has been amazing growth!
So, if you are out in the garden planting seeds this weekend, I invite you to enter into this prayerful activity. As you place your seed in the soil imagine God planting a seed within you. What do you want to ask God to help grow in your life, in those you love, in the community and in the world? Make your request into a prayer; and, to that prayer, add this prayer attributed to Oscar Romero.
God of hope,
Help us to step back and take the long view.
Remind us that what we do in our lifetime
is only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is your work...
Nothing we do is complete, which is only a way of saying
that your realm always lies beyond us.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No one program saves the world.
No set of goals includes everything.
Help us to remember what we really are about:
we plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need future development.
We provide yeast that produces
far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything.
Knowing this frees us, for it enables us to do something.
It may seem incomplete, but it really is a beginning,
a step along the way.
Our efforts provide an opportunity
for your grace to enter and do the rest.
You are the Creator, and we work with you.
We may never see the end results that are known to you.
Even so, we are prophets of a future
that holds your promise. Amen.
