Inch by inch row by row, gonna make this garden grow…gonna
mulch it deep and low, gonna make it fertile ground…
Inch by inch row by row, please bless these seeds I sow, please
keep them safe below ‘til the rain come tumbling down…
This song was sung by some of the folk singing heroes of the
sixties and seventies, Peter, Paul & Mary, Arlo Guthrie and the amazing
Pete Seeger!
Now I know something about a garden; not because of me, but
thanks to my wife Wendy and our friends Aimee & Keith. For the third consecutive year, they have
produced a bountiful harvest of tomatoes, cucumbers, a variety of squash, zucchini,
peppers, corn, peas, beans and I could go on!!
I watch with great admiration as they start with the smallest of seeds,
plant, tend and pick the fruits of their labor.
Some of the greatest produce comes from the tiniest of
seeds; from something so small and seemingly insignificant comes something as
great as fresh food!
As people of faith, no matter how small we are, no matter
how insignificant we feel, we are called to greatness in Christ Jesus.
We return to the 13th chapter of the Gospel of
Matthew as Jesus continues to speak of wheat and weeds and seeds and good
fruit! The first parable concerns weeds
and wheat, growing together because of a dastardly act of the enemy. The wise farmer decides to let them grow
together and the wheat will be saved and stored to produce food; the weeds will
be burned. We still have weeds growing
among the wheat today; you and I are called to be that wheat; to be good wheat! And we are called to remember that God alone
is responsible for separating the weeds from the wheat! Now Jesus, at the end of this Gospel, does a
far better job of explaining the parable than I ever could so let’s move on to
the mustard seed. We are told it is the
tiniest of seeds yet it produces the largest of plants. So big and expansive the mustard seed bush
provides a home for the birds of the sky.
Now I can’t relate to a mustard seed but I sure can relate to a
watermelon seed. Here is a typical
watermelon seed and it is quite capable of producing great fruit!
Small things indeed can become great, especially when the
sower of the seed is Jesus Christ. From
12 Apostles, Jesus began a Church, which numbers 1.2 billion faithful today ministering
in every land and nation, worshipping God in every time zone upon this
earth. From an initial idea to serve the
growing needs of the faithful in Mandeville & Covington was born Most Holy
Trinity Parish; and my look at how we have grown. And when I think of small becoming great, I
think of Blessed Mother Teresa. This
small diminutive woman established a mighty religious order, the Missionaries
of Charity, which continues to bring help and hope to the poorest, the neediest
and the sickest in the world. Her order
is now responsible for caring for God’s people in over 130 nations. And how does Mother Teresa describe herself:
I am just a little wire, God is the power!
When asked to help write a book that would describe the
mighty work begun by Mother Teresa she gave us the philosophy of her work,
expressed in a garden or seed-like metaphor.
The book is called a Simple Path, and I would strongly recommend we all
read, reflect and pray with this book.
At a minimum, can we practice the philosophy of the Simple Path?
The fruit of silence is prayer…
The fruit of prayer is faith…
The fruit of faith is love…
The fruit of love is service…
The fruit of service is peace…
Thanks to Mother Teresa this is how our produce will look,
when we plant seeds of prayer, faith, love, service and peace:
People are often
unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of
selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some
unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive
you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could
destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be
jealous. Be happy anyway.
The
good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be
enough. Give your best anyway.
Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow, please bless these seeds I sow, gonna make this garden grow!
Thank you Jesus for sowing good seed in my life, and help me to care for it and help my garden of faith grow!!
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