When our 6-year old grandson stayed overnight, he brought his class’s science experiment: sprouting a seed.

When he arrived, nothing growing was showing. He had planted the seed a few days before. He had carefully placed it in several inches of dirt and stones at the bottom of a glass cylinder that stood about six inches tall with a diameter of about two inches.

He knew the seed needed warm sunlight to sprout. So the afternoon that he arrived we carefully placed the cylinder on our balcony.

The next afternoon, our grandson was going home. He picked up the cylinder. He freaked out! He screamed: “It’s dead! It’s dead!”.

We came running.

We couldn’t see the problem. The cylinder with its soil and stones was intact and unchanged. We had feared that maybe the cats had gotten into the experiment and wrecked it.

But no. As a 6-year old gardener, our grandson simply assumed that, since he couldn’t see anything growing, the seed must be dead.

My wife is an excellent gardener. She re-assured him that it was normal for the seed not to have started growing yet. It just needed more time!

With his fears quieted and his faith renewed, he carefully carried the cylinder home.

The immediate crisis was over. But, needless to say, we’ll be praying without ceasing for the seed to grow!

At first, I chalked up our grandson’s fears to his youth and inexperience.

Afterwards, I reflected that our grandson’s reaction was similar to the reactions of myself and others when we don’t see quick results from our good intentions and our good deeds.

Too often, our faith is as weak as the faith of a 6-year old gardener!

Instead, we need to have faith that even a mustard seed—a very small seed—that is planted by God will eventually bring blessings to ourselves and to all Humanity that are much greater than we can imagine. (Matthew 13:31-32; James 5:7-11; Isaiah 55:8-13).

We need to have faith that putting the words of Jesus into practice will eventually grow into blessings to ourselves and to all Humanity that are much greater than we can imagine. (Matthew 7:24-25; 13:23; Isaiah 55:8-13).

We need to pray without ceasing for the will of God to grow on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10).

When we wisely ask for such good things, we must persevere and be patient until we and Humanity receive them. (James 1:4-8; 4:3; 5:7-11,13-18).

For as Jesus promised:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be open.” (Matthew 7:7-3).

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For my thoughts based on other insights sparked by my grandson, please read my blogs “Honoring God with Only Our Lips”, “What Makes a Hero Good?”, and “Video Game Strategy: Getting ‘Crucified’”.

For my thoughts based on an insight sparked by our dog Toto, please read my blog “Toto Begging For Food”.

For my thoughts based on an insight sparked by our cat Bootsey, please read my blog “The Star of Bethlehem Was a ‘Can of Tuna Fish’”.