“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” – Luke 17:6

Your average mustard seed is about 1-2 millimeters in diameter. That is pretty darned small. You’d think it would be easy to come up with at least that much faith. Equally easy to lose it. Imagine dropping a single mustard seed on the floor, then trying to find it.

Faith is not easy, but it is not impossible either. It can start from something miniscule, seemingly invisible. And it can come to life and grow beyond the limits of imagination.

Now and then, I find myself giving way to the cynicism and apathy that seems to be part of the very air we breathe. I am distracted in prayer. I am restless when I should be reverent. It feels undisciplined, and even childish. I am reminded of trying to pray with the rest of my class when I was in the third grade at St Edward School. All the other kids would have their eyes closed and their heads are bowed, but I would be … peeking. A half a century later, I still catch myself doing this.

The good news about that tiny seed of faith is that it always holds the promise of sprouting, sending new growth upwards, seeking out the sun, and emerging as a strong, new plant. I pray for this in myself. I accept the fact that sometimes I am a child, peeking. Looking away.

Faith teaches that God’s love never gives up on any of us.