²⁶ Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. ²⁸ The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. ²⁹ And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”

Dear God, but what if I want to force the seed to grow? What if I’m not patient enough for your timing and miraculous work? What if I see the ways to grow your kingdom and then just go out and get ‘er done? Of course, I’m being sarcastic, but it feels like the way some people are currently interpreting the Great Commissions – to make disciples of all nations.

As I put this parable in context and think about the next several hundred years of Christianity’s development, it does make me think about how painstakingly slow it was to develop. No one hearing Jesus’s words that day lived to see it. Thankfully Mark (from Peter?) recorded it for us, but Peter didn’t live to see it happen. Paul didn’t. Yes, they saw little “leave blade[s]” push through here and there, but they didn’t get to see the ripened grain. Nor did the next generation. In fact, nearly all of this first generation was martyred.

The reason I started doing this series on the parables is because of the book I heard about by Lloyd J. Ogilvie, The Autobiography of God. He wrote a book looking into who you are by looking at the parables Jesus told about you. I don’t know each parable he used, but this feels like one that will give me an insight into who you are and how you work. What it tells me is that your timeline and the way you see humankind in the grand scheme of things is much different than how I see it. I see it from the perspective of one blade of grass in the forest. You have the unique ability to see everything from as high as the 30,000-ft view of the forest and then get down at the blade of grass level with me. It’s amazing, really. Well, of course it’s amazing. You’re amazing because you are God.

With all of this said, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, help me to trust in the process that I will never live to see. Help me to be at peace with serving you and then taking your presence into my little sphere of influence, ignoring the results, but simply keeping my eyes focused on you. That also goes for my relationships with family and seeing how they develop. It goes for my hopes and dreams for my children. My community. My work. I measure time in days, months, and years, but you measure it in decades, centuries, and millennia. So help me, Holy Spirit, to take my eyes off of the idols I’ve created that I think will give me the fruits of your Spirit that only you can give. I consider my life worth nothing to me. Help me to mean those words.

I pray all of this completely submitted to you through the blood of Jesus,

Amen