by Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
Early this morning I decided to do some baking. I am not really much of a baker. I like to cook and do that quite a bit. Baking, however, is not something that I enjoy.
With all my adult children living at home this summer, I decided to make a treat for breakfast.
I googled a recipe for lemon poppy seed muffins. I imagined the joy in everyone’s eyes as they smelled the delightful aroma of fresh baked muffins wafting through the house. I thought of the great appreciation they would feel as they tasted the warm lemony muffins fresh out of the oven.
So, after gathering the proper ingredients, I began mixing up the batter. The muffin pans were prepared. The oven was preheated. The smell of fresh grated lemon zest was filling the kitchen.
Soon all the ingredients were mixed up. The seeds were the last to go into the batter. Then into the pans and the oven. Twenty-two minutes later the timer went off. Just as expected the house smelled like fresh baked goods and soon there was the sound of footsteps coming out of bedrooms and up the stairs.
My daughter was the first to comment: “What kind of seeds are in the muffins?” With some confidence and pride I told her they were lemon poppy seed muffins. She commented that the seeds look rather big to be poppy seeds.
I then retrieved the container to show her the poppy seeds and immediately my mistake. I had made lemon chia seed muffins. Instead of great appreciation for my efforts, I instead received some very good-natured teasing instead. The muffins actually tasted pretty good, but I am pretty sure that it will take some time before the family lets me forget my mistake.
One seeded recipe however that is never a mistake is the one where Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, “So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Anytime a seed is planted in the ground it is an act of faith.
You mix the seed with soil, moisture and sunlight and soon you have growth. It is a recipe for success with seeds. And frankly planting seeds and making sure it has the proper moisture and sunlight is all that we can do. The rest is up to the seed and nature. It really isn’t up to us.
We plant seeds of faith as well and it is also a recipe for a wonderful walk with Jesus. I used to wonder about moving mountains. I am pretty sure that God was not meaning to move Mt. Rainier so you can view it from your back yard in order to improve your view and increase your house value.
There are always mountains in our lives where we can plant the seed of faith. We then turn the process over to faith and see how God will transform the personal mountain and move it out of the way. It really isn’t up to us. We just need to make sure the seeds of our faith are constantly taken care of in our daily spiritual walk with God. God is then in charge to move the mountains in our lives as He sees fit.