Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”  Mark 4:26-29

We are, blessedly, into the season of sunshine and warmth.  Therefore, we are also in the season of growth.  Sometimes we have to cut the lawn twice in a week if we can manage the schedule between work and rain.

I am no gardener, but I share my life with one and so I can admire and wonder at the growth of plants and flowers just outside my door.  Every horizontal surface in the house has some container of greenery or blooms upon it.  Our world is verdant and blossoming.

I know better than to suggest that any of this would be possible without the steady hard labor of my lovely live-in gardener.  It’s not just flowers that grow; weeds do too.  And those plants don’t settle themselves into their little beds.  First there is digging and tilling.  Although I do my best to avoid this work, I have been nearby when it was happening, and I know it’s real work!

But still, there is a graciousness to the growth.  Even considering all that is required to have a successful garden, the abundance and beauty is not a human achievement.  It is a gift from God, dropped in our laps so that we might just revel in it.

We might even learn from it. 

We have been going through a trying time that has hit some of us pretty hard.  The pandemic has stressed families and upset our comfortable routines.  Some folks have been hit hard financially.  Some have been unbearably lonely.  Some are stressed with the burden of trying to teach their kids and not lose productivity while working from home.

We have been made heart-sick and ashamed by the persistence of racism and bigotry.  We are, at turns, fearful and angry with those who on every side have lost control and resorted to violence and hatred.  We have also seen brilliant flashes of light – evidence of the power of love and the goodness of God’s children who break down barriers and create peace even on streets teeming with chaos.

There is always plenty of work for all of us to do.  The world does not yet reflect the Kingdom of peace that Christ preached.  But look around.  Wherever you look is a reminder that even the iron hard frozen ground yields to the persistence of the seed.  The deepest seasons of dark and gloom do not hold back the spring.  Even though there is work to do in this garden, the Author of life is the one who will bring the fresh blooms of new life. 

Be at peace.  If doesn’t all depend on you.  God is still growing us into the Kingdom.

Prayer:  God of life, lure us up out of the cold ground in which we have been buried into the new life in which we will all flourish together – a garden of your own planting.  Amen.