Hope for the Littlest Things, March 25

Friday, March 25

Matthew 13:22: It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Not long ago, I had been having a rough week. I was having a tough time seeing much hope or love in the near future. But then as Family Life Sundays was wrapping up, I met one of our preschoolers and her dad in the hallway. We chatted for a bit about how much they love Abiding Hope Preschool (a common theme, and such a blessing to this community). After we chatted, I was working on something in the hallway and the two walked down the hall.

The preschool friend started pointing out to her dad where her cubby is, and pointing in the window at her classroom, showing her parent where she puts her drawings and where she reads with her teacher. Then she showed her dad the sign that shows she will be line-leader on Thursday and he stopped, got down on her level, and told her how proud of her he was. This preschool parent started tearing up because, due to pandemic protocols, he hadn’t been able to see where their daughter spent her days.

And then I started tearing up, because it had never occurred to me that so many parents were choosing to trust Abiding Hope with their kids. Of course I knew that on some level, but to witness the pure joy someone had by seeing, for the first time in almost two years, where their kid puts her water bottle each day, it got me. The hope required to send your kid to a school that you haven’t gotten to enter because of the pandemic, trusting the teachers to care for them well, and hoping that the seeds planted in your child will help them blossom into a strong, kind, caring, human being is incredible, yet it happens in bits and pieces.

For me, Choosing Love and Choosing Hope is almost impossible when I keep it big. When I look at the world and try to imagine the whole world transforming into God’s kingdom. When I only work on a massive scale, it is really easy to be discouraged. But it is in moments the size of a mustard seed, which is to say the really really small acts of trusting that love and life win, that create a life of choosing love and hope.

The saying “Hope is a Muscle” comes to mind here. That we start hoping without much practice, and gradually build up to the big hopes. While that isn’t always possible, like with our preschooler and her dad who had to take a giant step of faith, I wonder if we can grow our hope in retrospect, by identifying those mustard seeds in our lives that have become something bigger and stronger than we ever expected.

Today, I encourage you to make a list of all the things you’ve hoped for where God has shown up. All the mustard seeds that have been planted in your life. All the ways you have been loved into who you are. Start with the little things. The moments where you saw a preschool cubby and were overwhelmed by love and hope that everything was going to be ok. Write out your list, then turn it into a prayer of gratitude with a final “thank you God, amen.”

Pastoral Intern Lindsay Bates