Today’s scripture: MARK 4:30-34

Ideas start kinda like mustard seeds, don’t they? They start as just an inkling, a moment, a small space in your mind.  If they are given nourishment they grow.  If they are forgotten they are put away for another day. Lately I have been surrounded by ideas.  These are ideas that pop up in my mind or they ideas that others vocalize and still there are other ideas that people put into fruition.  The trick is to know how and when an idea is ready to flourish.  When is the right timing and is it where God is calling?

Last night I took part in a few ideas.  Last night the McMinnville Women’s Choir had a gig at the McMinnville Community Choir Celebration.  The first idea I took part in was the Women’s Choir itself.  This was an idea that Betty Busch (our director) had for McMinnville.  She started it in the fall and we now have 18 members and we sound pretty good.  Plus I can’t tell you how fab the community is that I get to sing with every Tuesday.  The group is so much fun!

We were asked to partake in another idea.  We were asked to sing in this more extensive gig with choirs from all ages and all over town.  Robin Pederson saw this idea and found a place to help nourish it.    You can see how many of us were there last night singing away.  Robin believes that everyone should sing together and that was so apparent last night.  This was a fundraiser for YCAP and I know that the fundraising changes to a different charity each time.  What an awesome mustard seed!  And the women in the choir I belong to had such a great time!  Plus this idea helped nourish our idea of having a women’s choir.  How cool is that?

All over the world these little seeds take root somewhere.  Sometimes the ideas pass us by.  This isn’t the time or place and sometimes, just sometimes, we get to see it grow to include 7 or 8 choirs up on stage…truly reflecting what the mustard seed grows into.

 And sometimes we squash these ideas too soon.  We don’t think that they are good enough or that we are strong enough to pull them off.  If that happened all the time, we wouldn’t have such wonderful ideas out there.  We wouldn’t have the things you love to do or love to contribute to.  So perhaps today its time to feed your mustard seed and let it grow.  Perhaps today you get to put away your negative self talk and realize that you have ideas and they are just ready to take off.  You are the bold one today! You are the risk taker! You are the one who just can’t fail!

What ideas do you have today that we can ask God to help us nourish them?

Prayer:  When we feel small and unimportant, help us to remember O God that you have given us brains and hearts to see new visions and new ways of being that grow so much bigger than ourselves.  Help us to see that we can take the risks with our new ideas and allow them to grow branches for others to enjoy. Amen.