It's Never Just a Wave
- Grace B-P Contributor
- May 9
- 2 min read
By Elizabeth Mckinney and Chris Mckinney
Start with the Smallest of Steps
The parable of the mustard seed has something to teach shy neighbors and reluctant mailbox-wavers (Mark 4:30-32)
What kind of seed? The smallest of seeds. Seeds already strike us as miniature and inconsequential, but Jesus reminds us that great treasures come from these miniature cases.
Similarly, the miniature interactions we have with our neighbors make a difference. What if, during this strange time in history, we began to say hello to our neighbors, wave, and smile? What if we took the time to learn their names? And what if God were to use even the smallest of gestures to change the course of a neighbor’s spiritual life?
It’s never just a wave.
Be Patient
Many of the small relational seeds we’d planted when planning and serving at neighborhood events, attending book discussions, joining small dinner parties, taking walks through the neighborhood, and lingering in late-night driveway chats began to grow into shoots that finally broke through the ground.
We discovered our need for our neighbors, built close relationships with them, sought the common good, and saw the social fabric of our neighborhood strengthened. Some neighbors who previously weren’t interested in church or spiritual things began to reconsider Jesus.
But it didn’t happen overnight.
Imagine How God Might Work
In this parable, Jesus captures our imaginations by reminding us that our small, faith-filled actions can grow into something significant that can bring shade, rest, and refuge for us and our neighbors. He says it “becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
When we hear these words, our prayers for our neighborhoods are fueled with hope for what God might do in our lives and our neighbors’ lives. Remember, this seed can grow into a tree. Don’t forget, that early-morning wave can grow into a relationship.
Jesus reminds us through this parable that it is precisely the small seeds of interactions that God uses to produce the fruit-bearing, shade-making, nest-providing growth in our neighborhoods, emerging years after they’ve been sown.
Article excerpt taken from The Gospel Coalition (U.S.
Edition). Read the full resource here:
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