and you'll grow, grow, grow!!

A few years ago I visited Sequoia National Park and was simply taken back in breathtaking awe at the sights of the trees and roots that were coming out of the ground. The size was just massive and it was not just ONE but they were everywhere I looked. I began to think, these trees did not just occur this way overnight...they have taken years of growth and care to get them to be this way. But how awesome that one tree could produce more and more just from it's seeds falling off scattering across the ground. What happens when we personally sprinkle a seed into the soil is beyond amazing. This tiny little speck becomes a tall beautiful plant, tree, bush, etc...We stand back and do not often give that speck the awe that it deserves. How can something so tiny produce something so big and continue to produce over and over? I hope that today you can consider yourself a tiny seed that God has planted on this earth to help reproduce more and more fruit over and in abundance. It only takes a small step for God to be able to use me. It's continuing to daily strive to water myself, give myself sunshine in God's word and in prayer that will keep me growing full and live to where I can be an effect on others whether it be for shade purposes so they can sit under or fruit that they can partake in or flowers that they can place on their table and sit back and admire. Either way we are all specks that ought to be digging into the ground of God's word/soil and implanting ourselves there and forming our roots so that we can remain firm and strong when the winds and storms come blowing by. We want people to pick off of our branches and our petals/leaves for their purposes. I am so greatful to God for designing me with this "ability" (given only by Him) to be able to reach out to others one step at a time. In so doing I am building my own plant in my own life and stretching higher and higher into the sky getting closer and closer to the kingdom. Just as even the tallest tree in the world reaches nowhere near Heaven we too will never be fully as tall as we can be until we have arrived in our heavenly home. We ought not to compare our lives or our fruits with others around us . (hers is rotting and mine are fresh and luscious to the eyes and taste, etc..) We ought always to compare our leaves, berries, flowers with God and although we are continuing to grow and flourish and spread out across the open land we can not let our good production go to our head. I must always continue to give God the glory for His allowing me to reach out to others and be used by Him. It can be in so many different ways. A kind word, a simple gesture, simply saying hello, telling someone you are praying for them and then making sure you do, helping someone across the street, picking something up for someone when they drop it, holding open a door, leaving a tract at the dinner table in the restaurant, thanking God for your food while out to eat (what a testimony that is), being ready to help whenever it is needed at church or home or work, keeping a positive attitude, keeping God first so that when people see you they WANT what YOU HAVE... In Luke 13:18-19 it says, "What is the kingdom of God? like? What shall I compare it to? It is lik ea mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches." How many birds will you allow to perch in your branches today? Daily strive to grow one root at a time instead of planting the seed and the next morning waking up wondering why there isn't a huge tree in your front yard yet. Begin to act as though the Word of God is true EVERY hour of the day regardless of what winds may blow through your path or how someone might make you feel. Keep adding to your faith and to your growth by daily watering, getting some sunlight and reaching out to others. Don't expect overnight results, God sure doesn't. Unless He is the one answering a prayer and decides to have an overnight miracle performed! This makes me think of the song, "Read your bible, pray every day and you'll grow grow grow...neglect your bible forget to pray and you'll shrink, shrink, shrink"....if you neglect God's word, prayer and reaching out then you will surely whither up and just as a plant who doesn't get water and sun shrivels and dies so too will your spiritual life and effectiveness of your outreach. If you continue to seek God then eventually your faith is going to bigger than any tree in Sequoia National Park. And THAT IS PRETTY BIG...go google those trees if you haven't seen em yet. They are incredible! You too are incredible and do not forget it!