With the Faith of a Mustard Seed

It is amazing to me that I can transform my entire life with a little faith.

I can choose to focus on the negatives, I can continue to play self-defeating tapes in my head, and I can believe I have no control over the matters at hand. Life just happens. Right?

It’s taken five decades, but I am now seeing the destructiveness of this disillusioned belief. A wise man once said, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, 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.” (Matthew 17:20) This is an astonishing claim.

Jesus is saying that I can achieve the impossible by a strong faith in my ability to do so? I can choose to look at the glass as half full, I can turn negative messages around, and I can trust in my abilities to accomplish the things I am meant to do.

I am not saying I can become a brain surgeon or rocket scientist by next week, these are not things I am called to do or interests that I want to pursue. But I love to write, I want to know God, and I want to be of service to others. Maybe this begins with me saying, “I can do this, my voice matters, and my work is important.”

I am not alone in this world, we have each other, and together we are one body according to scripture. Like the distinct functions of the body, we must be true to our authentic self. The heart must beat, cells must divide, and the blood must carry the oxygen to the depleted parts of the body. I once heard that mass was like the heart of the church. As the people are depleted by life, they come to the table to be nourished, and with His body and blood, they are sent out to nourish others. Without nourishment, the body will die.

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I think this is how we enact radical change. We believe, we nourish, and then we give of ourselves to others. I don’t care how you find your spiritual nourishment, but it seems to be imperative to fill up or die to the infinite possibilities of this life.

At the end of Jesus’s life, languishing on the cross, he said some important things. One, he asked God for our forgiveness, “forgive them they know not what they do.” That’s good enough for me, I’m forgiven.

And then he said, “It is accomplished,” before giving up his spirit to God. He had finished what he came to do. He instigated a new social order, shared the good news with all who had ears to hear, eyes to see, and he aligned himself so closely to God’s will that our very salvation was accomplished.

Death no longer has power over us; it has been overcome, once and for all. This is the good news. We can live without fear, knowing our dreams can be accomplished, with the faith of a mustard seed.

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