One?morning, as I enjoyed some unhurried time with God in the early hours, I came across this from Elton Trueblood on how the kingdom of God grows as from a seed:
?The wonderful thing about seed is that it wants to get out. Near where this is being written is a toadstool that, in the night, broke through the asphalt surface of our parking lot, lifting into the air a disk of asphalt nearly three inches in diameter. This provides some hint of how the supposed conflict between pietism and activism is overcome. If the deep underground vitality is adequately nourished, i.e., if the life of devotion is genuine, it will be bound to crack the economic and political barriers. In fact, it cannot be stopped in its redemptive process. Like the mustard seed, it will produce ?large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade? (Mark 4:32). This is how the Kingdom grows. First a few people are deeply changed, then they sink their spiritual roots into the soil of God?s love, and then the conditions under which they and their brothers live are changed. Renewal begins on the inside.? (Elton Trueblood. The New Man for Our Time. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1970, p. 68.)
When I was cycling the Oregon coast in a few years ago, I saw a sprout like the one in the image above. The sides of the highway were freshly asphalted, but sprouts of grass and weed had already broken through and threatened to take over. Life wins. Life breaks through barriers.
REFLECTION
What are some of the small beginnings God is inviting you to make?
In what ways are you tempted instead to make a big splash instead?
(Splashes are quite exciting in the moment, but grow quiet rather quickly with little to show for the effort).
