:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

One of my earliest memories from childhood is of my father taking a wheel barrel into the woods and digging up a tree that seemed roughly five feet tall at the time. The exact height isn’t clear in my memory, but I do recall the tremendous amount of digging required to pull out the tree. It was transplanted to his front yard and soon it flourished to the point that many years later he had to cut it down.

Years later I’ve done some modest transplanting of my own. It’s quite different from sowing seeds in a garden and watching them sprout. I’ve transplanted 3 small maple trees, 2 apple trees, 2 blueberry bushes, and 2 raspberry bushes (though our soil practically repelled the raspberries!).

Sometimes transplanting works, but other times it doesn’t.

When Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God growing like a mustard seed, I think it is important to note that he’s not talking about transplanting something large and established.  He’s starting small and growing it from scratch in a new location. You can’t import and drop the Kingdom in a finished form and expect it to take. It has to start from seed at a new location.

God’s Kingdom is a grass-roots, bottom-to-the-top matter.

God’s Kingdom does not advance from the top. We seek the low places, working the soil and sowing seeds with the long view.

There are no short cuts.

When people react with fear to the Kingdom work of Christians, it’s most likely because we haven’t sown the Kingdom as seeds, but rather tried to transplant a fully grown expression of it. However, if they can see God’s work grow and spread over time, witnessing the power of God advance, we have taken a step toward likening God’s Kingdom to that tiny mustard seed.