Our readings this weekend are focused on trees, and plants, and all living, growing things. God makes them grow; God makes all things grow. We can help, a bit, but mostly, we can just marvel at what God is doing all around us. It is God who makes it grow, who makes us grow.
I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches, tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; Ezekiel 17:22
But the “crest of the cedar” won’t have any roots, as any gardener knows! How will it survive on a mountaintop? Won’t that be above timberline? But wait, remember who the Gardener is: it’s God, and
“For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
Right? Do we really believe that? Can we believe in the ‘impossible’? Do the ‘rules of nature’ control God, or is it the other way around? Can God ‘break the rules’ that He, Himself made? Well, why not? He made them! Is God bound by what occurred long ago, or is it -
“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19
And so, Christian (and I am holding a mirror in front of myself as I write this reflection), how ‘big’ is your faith? As big as the “smallest of seeds, a mustard seed”?
For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20
The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Luke 17:6
Wow! I’ve got some ‘growing’ to do, especially in the realm of my faith! I can’t even get a paperclip to wiggle with just my thoughts, much less think about moving trees or mountains! Now, that’s humbling! Praise be the greatness of our God! Amen, amen!