Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.”
He said,
“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,
or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables
he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them,
but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
This parable speaks of the miracle of life. If you have ever spent time in a garden you will know that there is a lot of work involved in tending a garden. Cultivating the ground, planting the seed, watering and weeding, and then eventually harvesting. Among all this work, I wonder how many notice the astounding miracle that is taking place. The dry hard seed, is softened in the moisture of the ground, and life springs forth from it… “and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.” Life! where did that life come from, what force moved this lifeless clump of matter into existence, from nothing to something.
Of course we faithful believers say it is God, but even so it is still a miracle. Consider your own life. You have a soul that is holding all of your atoms together in a form that looks like you. If you eat too much or too little, your external form can change, but you are still you. That thing, that soul, is a gift from god, there is no other like it in the universe, none ever before you, nor none ever after you. Your soul was hand crafted by God and He loves you, and wants the very best for you, in all things.
No scientist has ever been able to explain where a soul comes from, and they cannot explain how things stay held together in life, without it. Why is a flower a flower without some guiding principal to keep it in that form, if there is no “flower soul” there is no flower, it will quickly disintegrate and return to the earth and separate into it’s constituent parts. Same with your dog, same with you. If you have no soul, your body stops functioning, dies, and starts to rot almost immediately.
Have you ever considered how incredible that is? Of all of the miracles that God has ever done, life is without a doubt, the most amazing of them all. And he is constantly working this miracle every moment of every day. From the smallest blade of grass, to the new baby that was born moments ago…, all of existence relies on God’s will and intention. If He ever decided to give up on us, he could blink us out of existence in a second. But god will never do that, he loves us as His children, and wants the best for all of us. It is a love what we cannot ever fully understand, and a gift that we will never be worthy of. Have you ever thanked God for the gift of all life, and especially your own? If not, you should start today. And when winter is over, start a garden, and watch life come from nothing, and marvel at how great God is.
