Early in my life, when people spoke of faith, or mustard seed faith, I didn’t understand, nor could I envision it. I’m a visual learner so I tried to adapt the concept to an image. I think I may have been struggling to identify what faith is. Well, I didn’t figure it out.

I love walking, especially in parks. Often the pathways are covered with asphalt to keep them smooth, safe, and attractive. The purpose of the asphalt is to prevent the weeds and grass beneath from growing and disrupting the surface. Well, this is where I found my understanding of “faith.”

When walking, I would notice little bumps or rises developing in the asphalt. Daily, I would monitor the growth of the bumps. Some never changed, while others kept growing larger. Over time, the undergrowth of weeds and grass would continue to grow, disrupting the smooth surface of the asphalt. Bikers were not happy!

Days and weeks passed. The bumps continued to grow and then I saw a tiny crack or break in the asphalt. I continued to monitor the changes as they occurred. One day, looking a little closer, I saw what appeared to be something green appearing in the crack against the black surface of the asphalt. This captured my attention. Smaller than a dime, this tiny bud, a weed, life, was forcing its way through to the surface where it wasn’t supposed to be. It should have died beneath the asphalt and never seen the light of day, but there it was. The tiny piece of green life was emerging, alive and strong, reaching for daylight. 

I paused for a moment, looking and thinking. This is what faith looks like. It’s unseen, powerful, moving and uplifting. I imagined my faith as the tiny weed. It has to grow within me before it can be seen outside me. That growth takes time and requires nurturing for it to develop. I equate nurturing with believing that whatever has to be done can be done. Then it‘s necessary to do the work you believe you should be doing. This may require aligning your thoughts and actions with the goal(s) and then having faith, or mustard seed faith, to see it through. 

This is the breakthrough that happened for me with the weed. In the same way that the weed grows, so does my faith. Once it’s touched by daylight, there’s no stopping it. Its goal is to reach daylight, regardless of the challenges, because that’s the source of life. Having and relying on faith is a life saver. Like my faith, once the weed began its growth spurt it was “growing like a  weed.”

I challenge you to find your “weed” or whatever inspires you. 

In the meantime, take a moment to appreciate the “faith” represented by the weeds growing in your lawn. Good luck!