Parable of the mustard seed

Gospel of Mark, chapter 4:30-31

We are now in daylight saving time. This is a time of fluid schedules, of weekends outdoors, of softened boundaries. Children spill into streets and across lawns; adults step over thresholds to swap easy news. And God’s kingdom, like the mustard seed, continues to grow quietly in the hearts and minds of those who love Him…day by day, hour by hour, year by year.

We pay attention to “clock time” as we browse in the sun and note the earth’s tilt and lengthening days. We live by time; we measure it in seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years. And, how fast it flies the older we get!

But, God’s time answers to another voice. He speaks to us of a different kind of “saving time.” This sense of God’s time is called “kairos,” and His time is always now, always present and available, often surprising. This “saving time” is qualitative; that is, it is impregnated with the grace of the present moment. Every moment of your day is a moment of grace. It is as inconspicuous as the tiny mustard seed, but it is no less as important and fruitful.

Today’s scripture alerts us to the reality of God’s time. Our labor and our plotting and planning rest in God, ultimately. For God takes our little efforts and makes of them a great work. The smallest mustard seed grows and branches out into a great tree full of birds. At the beginning, the mustard seed was so very small, but after a time it “springs up to be the largest of shrubs.” So it is with all humble beginnings; so it is with our lives when lived in the presence of God, hour by hour, day by day, year by year.

Whatever is grown around us on the window sill or in the garden; whatever appears fresh at the farmer’s market can remind us of this time of God’s pruning. This is as good a time as any to nurture our inner ear, our inner eye, and to move to the rhythm of God’s surprising, saving time.

Fr. Hugh Duffy