It’s like seed needing good soil…
It’s like a lamp needing a stand…
It’s like a farmer’s garden growing as he sleeps…
It’s like a small seed turning into a large tree…
In my journey of Faith this year, a desire started in me to read, really read, from Jesus. It’s so easy for me to get caught up in reading books about Jesus. They are great. Don’t get me wrong there. Learning about is an excellent way to learn. But it’s just different than learning from. So with that spirit, I’ve been reading slow, steady, reflectively and contemplatively the words of Jesus.
Reading in Mark 4 lately, Jesus uses what feels like a mash-up of stories to try and describe the Kingdom of Heaven. There are similarities between them, yes, but they also feel so different, disjointed a bit. Maybe that’s to explain different aspects? Maybe it’s to meet different crowd’s where they are at in maturity/understanding/background to help them understand. Or maybe it’s just for repetition? After all, studies show we truly learn only after hearing inforamtion several times. Hmm. I don’t know.
But here’s what has been striking me this week. It’s all about process. Faith. Relationships. Growth. Healing. Maturity. Heaven. All process.
Process and I have had quite the tumultuous start to our relationship you could say.
As I’ve said in many ways before – I’m a “go getter” personality. A planner. A figure-it-outer. I’m great at completing tasks quickly, getting things going, and I love a finished product. All qualities that don’t make me have warm fuzzy feelings toward slow processes. I admit that because I want you to know this is tough stuff to digest.
Jesus never said Heaven was a get rich quick scheme. He just said “I forgive you. Now go and sin no more.“
Well one part of that is a “quick” thing… “I forgive you”. That’s done. But the other half? The go and sin no more half? There’s no “how-to”, no instruction manual, even no end result picture/timeline/guarantee for that. It’s a process.
So reading in Mark, Jesus first likens the kingdom to seed falling on soil….seeds which need a right environment or they won’t grow. The seed falling, the Kingdom here, the forgiveness part…. happens quickly and without our work. But the growing, the environment… takes effort, time, patience. It’s a process.
Next story? The Kingdom is like a lamp. You need to set it on a stand to light things up. The lamp, the Kingdom, that’s already here… that’s the quick part. But the putting it on a stand? The allowing it to illuminate our dark places, the hurt, the junk, the wounds, the places that need God…. that’s going to take time. We will need to do the work to let the light hit it. Need to let our eye adjust to the brightness. Need time to see clearly…. It’s a process.
What about the next one? A farmer plants his farm and it just grows. Jesus makes it sound like the farmer doesn’t need to even help it. While he sleeps. Plants grow. Then comes harvest time a long while later. We don’t know how it happens, but it does. And it takes time. Time. Patience. Faith. Trust. It’s a process.
Lastly, before Jesus’ journey moves on, he says the Kingdom is like the tiniest of seeds which becomes a big tree even birds sit on and people find shade by. This may be my favorite of the stories. Small beginnings… big life-filled trees. No matter how small your beginning, your experience of the Kingdom can grow beyond all we could dream up! But only in time. Only by process.
So today, may we breathe into all we feel. Breathe into the fear of seeing the “same old”… trusting that with environment, with light, with time, with God’s supernatural help…. this small beginning is becoming a tree full of life, larger, grander, and greener than we can even imagine when we look at our tiny seed of a circumstance.
You’re in process. It’s in process. That’s OK. This is a step. A part. A moment in time. And it is even meant not to feel like home yet.
Notice the process. Appreciate the lapse of comprehension between seed and tree, dark and light, now and Kingdom…and let God fill that holy gap.
My Musings and More
That pic is my homegrown Romaine brought it fresh from my garden. I think of all these stories every day as I go out and see how big plants have gotten over night! I love creating in this way with the Creator! Can. Not. Wait. For the tomatoes to ripen.
