Today’s Gospel of Matthew shares a parable from Jesus Christ:
He proposed another parable to them.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’
It can all start with the smallest seed, the tiniest spark of hope can lead to the deepest, strongest faith, with the love and support of God. Christianity is all about the hope, in forgiveness, in people, in the Resurrection, in God. If you have hope it can lead to the greatest belief that can bring you through all the difficult times of life.
Do you have hope? Try it, it can change your life…
HOPE has been in my conversations and thoughts the last several weeks. I’ve been telling the following experience that changed my life. In the last ’90’s St. Bernard had a grant for 8th graders and chaperone’s to attend a CRIME PREVENTION CONFERENCE in Atlanta, GA. and they invited me to attend as a chaperone. It changed my life…first, as a Caucasian woman I was a minority among the hundreds of attendees…secondly when the assembly was asked to stand if they had a family member or close friend who had been tragically killed and I sat as more than 60% of those present stood up…and thirdly I attended a workshop on how to end violence. There were 12-15 people who held signs. The signs I remember of ways to end violence were; police, parents, teachers, counselors, churches, hope, laws, eliminate poverty, jobs, recreation centers, respect (& others I’ve forgotten). Several individuals were invited to come forward to arrange the signs in order of their importance to end violence. NO one put HOPE first…at the end the facilitator moved HOPE to the front of the line saying “If we don’t have hope, violence will never end. Without hope, why even try? Why think you’ll see tomorrow or that you have a future or that you can make a difference? THINK ABOUT IT…GOT HOPE, I DO!