Daily Scripture

Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’ (Mark 4.26-34)

Daily Reflection

Having only come to gardening late in life, it still astonishes me that the tiny seeds I put in the ground and cover with a layer of earth actually come up as carrots and spinach, lettuce and leeks. What an act of faith! And after planting them I have no part in what they become. Nor do I dig them up to see how they are getting on!

The seeds of God’s kingdom are planted in many ways, through teaching, through prayer, through seeing God at work in people’s lives. We are not called to coerce or hurry others into faith. Like the farmer in the parable, we get on with our daily life, trusting that if we are faithful planters, he will take care of the timing of the harvest.

Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen