Moving Mountains

…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed… Matthew 17:4-21  Seriously, faith the size of a mustard seed, who has that kind of faith? It took me some time but I realized it’s not about size at all! It’s about the character of the seed. Pliny the Elder, who lived between 23 and 79 C.E., wrote in his encyclopedia “Natural History”: With its pungent taste and fiery effect, mustard is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, … when it has once been sown, it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once. (Pliny, “Natural History” 19.170-171; Rackham et al. 5.528-529)  John Dominic Crossan (professor emeritus of Depaul University) wrote; “The point is not that the mustard plant starts as a proverbially small seed and grows into a shrub of three or four feet, or even higher, it is that it tends to take over.” Whether wildly sown or purposefully planted, once faith the size of a mustard seed takes root, don’t hinder it with doubt. Allow it to flourish like fire in every aspect of our lives and let’s get ready to start “moving mountains!”