"Reading the Redwoods: Small Beginnings"

“Reading the Redwoods”

“Small Beginnings”

 

As we walked among the redwoods and viewed with wonderment what God had made we began singing some lines from a great hymn describing God’s magnificence: “When through the woods and forest glades I wander…Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How Great Thou Art….” But had we encountered a seed from one of these mammoth trees we’d never have known it. Why? Because a redwood seed is about as large as a ladybug! And given the right conditions, we learned that this miniscule seed could grow to many billions of times its size.

In His seven parables describing various aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke Jesus described its beginning and growth in this way: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree….(Matthew 13:31-32). A green mustard seed weighs .002 grams, so it requires 227,000 to make a pound. That means it would take about 295 to make one redwood seed. So much for small being insignificant! God’s present kingdom on earth, the Church of Jesus Christ, had small beginnings—a tiny and uneducated group of faithful followers was used by Him to proclaim His message so that today a movement which by human standards shouldn’t have lasted beyond that first generation is alive and well across the world.

But Jesus used the concept of a mustard seed in another way. When His disciples showed a lack of faith He rebuked them (and us 2000 years later) when He said, “…If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:22).

Has my faith moved beyond those small beginnings? Has yours?

Blessings!

Jim McMillan