Firecracker

How exciting is it to light a firecracker? Strike a match, light a butane lighter, put it to the fuse and BOOM! For just a split second you have some entertainment. But quickly that excitement is over. Now how exciting is it to plant an acorn? Once it is in the ground you can sit around and wait but you’ll soon get tired and hungry, then lose your patience. Yet, come back in 20, 40 or 100 years and you’ll see a mighty oak tree.
Did you cause that tree to grow? Did you make it mighty? No. God gave it sun and rain and fertile soil to grow. He caused it to have just the right genes for it to grow up to 100 feet tall and live for hundreds of years.
Witnessing to others can be like that. We want people to come to Christ with a BOOM! We get upset when people turn a deaf ear or don’t understand. We wonder why our witnessing doesn’t have that “BOOM” effect. Christ tells us again and again that faith is like a seed. The Holy Spirit will do the work to make that little seed of witness sprout and grow into a tree. Our faith comes from the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit waters faith, gives it sunlight and fertile soil. In time, it can become a huge tree. We need the weeds and the dry soil of sin kept at bay. This comes from hearing the Word of God and receiving the gifts in Baptism and Holy Communion.
We need to have patience and trust that God knows what he’s doing, just like that acorn he causes to grow into a mighty oak.

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