I was sitting here thinking about the Matthew 13:31 and 32 passage that John will be preaching from this coming Sunday, the Parable of the Mustard Seed. A paraphrase for you would be that God's Kingdom is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, and yet when planted grows into a large tree that is tall and immense and eagles will nest in its branches. What an image.

I know how big eagles are and how large the nest of an eagle can be. A tree large enough for an eagle to nest in is HUGE, in my mind. To think of a tree that great in size that sprouts from a seed the size of a mustard seed is quite amazing. And then I thought about how that is similar to the Kingdom of God. Well, actually I didn't so much think upon the Kingdom of God as I did upon God. I thought about Jesus Christ who was God manifest and made flesh. Jesus Christ who began from the smallest of beginnings - a tiny, helpless babe. How wonderful God is to give such a very real image of the Kingdom of God. You see Jesus was nothing - a babe which was (to the society of that day) lower than the lowest; children then were definitely the least and the last. And yet look at how God used that lowly state of being. From a tiny helpless infant came the redemption for the entire world. Jesus Christ - a mustard seed that grew into the mightiest of trees and took upon himself the sins and wounds, the brokenness of the entire world for the salvation of all. Isn't that just absolutely mind-boggling?

As I talked with Crystal this morning she pointed out how everything begins as a small seed. I thought of that too. I thought of how God uses the least likely to accomplish great and wonderful things. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus, Peter, Paul.

We are all mustard seeds growing in this world and on our way to becoming greatness. The Kingdom of God is like that - taking the least likely and growing us all into much greater. I think that I'll look at people a little differently now. John, Crystal, Brian ... maybe even myself ... the potential that God is growing within each of us and the greatness that we are all becoming.

Go and look at the greatness in those around you.

Blessings,
memonica