During my spring planting this season I found myself thinking about one of my favorite Bible verses.

For the second spring in a row I planted cosmos and morning glories. Some of the things that I like about these two annual flowers is that they come in a variety of colors, grow big and tall, and bloom throughout the summer and well into the fall.

All of that is a great big bonus here in my neck of the woods—western Wisconsin—because fall always seems to come all too early. Before we know it, the leaves are falling, the flowers are wilting, and summer is over. That is why flowers that bloom late into the season get bonus points in my book.

 By providing color into the fall when much of the landscape here in the northern climes is starting to go drab and dormant, cosmos and morning glories are a vivid reminder of how miraculous it is that so much beauty can come from something that starts out so small. Every spring when I plant them, I’m amazed at how flower seeds that are not much bigger than a grain of sand can break through the soil and grow into such big, tall, beautiful blooms.

Just as how I am amazed at what an awesome God we have every time I think about what Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20-21:

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I love this verse for a number of reasons.

I love it because it reminds me of how welcoming our God is. He gives his almighty love even to beginners whose faith is still as small as a mustard seed.

I love it because it reminds me of how forgiving our God is. He gives his almighty love even to long-time believers who are struggling with fear, doubt, setbacks, or sin that have reduced their faith to mere seeds.

I love it because it reminds me of how empowering our God is. Even if all we have is faith as small as a mustard seed, he helps us to do amazing things.

I love it because it reminds me that we have a God who speaks in a language that we can understand. Anyone who has planted flower or vegetable seeds knows how amazingly true it is that great things can grow from the tiniest of beginnings.

Just as anyone who has planted flower or vegetable seeds knows that these great things usually don’t grow on their own. While God does all of the heavy lifting by turning a tiny lifeless seed into a tall, growing, flowering plant, we have to do our part as well.

In the case of vegetable and flower gardens, that means weeding, watering, and pruning. In gardening as in life, when we do our part and let God do his, the results can be amazing.