The readings this week show that what is small, hard to see, and even invisible can have vast importance. Whether it’s the tender shoot of the cedar tree or the tiny seed of the mustard plant, what seems slight now will become something mighty.

The sower sows the seed. But the seed becomes grain by mysterious means. The sower can’t take credit for what happens once the seed pushes its first sprout into the soil. That’s the work of the seed’s Creator. And it merits praise

God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help.

It might be a good idea to ask ourselves what needs to be trimmed away in our lives so that we will have grace enough to bear the fruit that God expects and desires of us.

We pray to our kind and gracious God who offers us mercy.

The original hearers of Jesus’ parable would have known that the mustard seed was neither the smallest nor its plant the largest. The parable exaggerates to make a point: The reign of God has started out on a small scale but will become great.

Food for our soul not only feeds us now but also opens up new possibilities that we might not have even considered. —Robert J. Wicks, After 50