It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. Mark 4:31-32
Years ago I studied these verses while writing a series of lessons for children. I was so disappointed when I discovered that the mustard seed isn’t the smallest seed on earth. A quick google search will inform you, as it did me, that the smallest seed comes from a jungle orchid. However, Jesus was not writing an article for scientific scrutiny but rather speaking in parable, a story told to teach a spiritual lesson. Jesus’s audience knew nothing of jungles, or orchids. They knew a great deal of mustard plants, olive groves and grape vineyards, and in that context the mustard seed is quite amazing.
The Kingdom of God is grown from the most basic source, love. The initial size does not determine outcome, the planting does. So just love.
Love,
Gretchen