It's mustard season in the Napa Valley, and rows of yellow blooms fill in the rows between the hibernating vines. What a wonderful surprise on what began as a very cloudy day--like sunshine from below!
Whenever I see mustard growing, I think of the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4:30-32). Clearly, mustard is not the smallest of seeds, nor does it grow into the greatest of all shrubs. It does not have large branches that support bird nests. But it is invasive, and almost impossible to eradicate.
The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that all creation is groaning with labor pains - God's work of transformation is not yet complete. It is not yet "on earth, as it is in heaven." The thing is that with birth, what is being born remains hidden in the labor process until the very end, when it comes bursting out. But as we can see the bright blooms of the mustard plants taking over the fields, we can see evidence of God's reign bursting into this world even before it is complete.
May the brightness we can see delight us and sustain us as we toil in God's vineyard, praying in word and action for the coming of God's reign in its fullness. And may the mustard seeds of faith grow wild within us, crowding out the the thistles of fear.