Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Brown (11/26/09)
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TITLE: Mustard Faith | Previous Challenge Entry
By Diana Smith
11/30/09 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
I am alone in my struggle.
Moisture refreshes and reminds me that there is life above. Air tickles past, beckoning me and I feel a sense of anticipation. Someone has prepared for and is awaiting my presence.
I am wanted.
My efforts, my instinct cause me to crack with exertion. Smells and tastes spill in as I press on. Sometimes the coarse, gritty texture irritates and I realize that I am encased in dirt. Trapped in soil that is full of decay, my senses choke with the end of life. Yet something of myself must stay, must remember; I am in the soil, but will perish if I continue to be of it. Roots stretch below, grasping the dirt.
I am anchored here.
Amazing strength and stamina far beyond my size is evident as I burst through the brown crust. Winds rush over me, wiping the last morsels of mud from my tender stem. Vulnerable still, fear trembles inside as I reach towards the warmth.
I am free.
Growth is rapid beyond the shadows. A dry, brown shell peels off, leaving green and gold in its wake. Loving and with firm grace, protection is offered in my youth. And so storms only serve to water me - winds bend but never break me. Ever widening, ever stretching, I devour all that is so freely given.
I am flourishing.
With seasons, years, decades of life above the decay, I grow. Branches spread to house the flights and fancies of the wilderness. My body is preserved under tough, brown skin, as beauty and glory are displayed in my presentation. Many colours and songs resound as I smile and dance.
I am all that I was created to be.
In the image of the Father I was made. Fallen as a seed onto the earth - alone, afraid, surrounded by the consequences of sin. When another saw fit to love me, nourish and water me, I yearned to grow and break free from decay. Love, friendship, family called me upwards.
Freedom cleared my lungs, yet guidance and defense were still necessary as a sapling. Within those I expanded, grew taller and stronger. My environment fed me and could not destroy with its fury.
Now I stand towering and healthy, feeding others with my fruit. Mature, adult, alive. I bear the glory of the Father and am ever in gratitude of the gardener, whose faith led me to my full potential.
Luke 13:19 NRSV “It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
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