“And he said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mk 4: 26-29)
Spiritual growth happens, we “know not how.” We do not make that happen, of ourselves. It is the “earth,” the ground we choose to walk on our cross-carrying journeys, with our feet firmly on the ground, that “produces of itself.” The “harvest” comes whenever God “puts in the sickle,” when He sees that we are ready, and have something to offer. These sometimes-painful moments of “harvest” are those in which we are called to service and self-offering to others.
Let me continue today with my God-given responsibilities, with my feet planted firmly on the ground, upon which I choose to walk, in gratitude for the “seed” of God’s grace-filled word in my life. “Thy kingdom come,” I
say to Him this morning, whenever and however He sees fit.
