Milkweed and monarchs
Mark 4:26-32
We have milkweed in our garden. Finally. I’ve tried to get it to grow from gathered seeds for the last four years, and at last there’s a whole patch. This little one was on one of the leaves last week.
And I thought to myself, wow.
Milkweed is a pretty tiny seed. I didn’t do anything to help it grow aside from watering it. Now, the plant is supporting a caterpillar that will eat up to 200 times its weight in about 3 days, then go on to its next instar stage, then form a chrysalis to become a monarch.
In the gospel of Mark, the author says the kingdom of God is like milkweed, or seed, in two ways.
First, milkweed seed goes all over the place when the pods are ready. The place where mine grew isn’t even where I tried to plant some. It’s everywhere we don’t expect. Cement, sidewalks, fields. What seems like random plantings are the work of an imaginative God who keeps creation growing beyond our attempt to control it. Where have you seen God’s creative design in unexpected places? Take a moment to look around, and enjoy all of the wonders in nature and God’s world that we don’t understand, but that work anyways.
Secondly, milkweed seed is tiny. I don’t know how it grows, but in the creative imagination of God, there is a way for butterflies to find life, shelter, and strength from a seed that is smaller than my fingernail. The author of Mark says the reign of God is like that too. It starts small, and it changes everything around it, supporting life. Where might the reign of God be present in your life in small ways that are slowly growing and changing your environment?
I marvel at Fred, our monarch caterpillar. From egg through all of life’s stages, God is using so many small things to surround him with things he needs to live and transform to what he will be.
Just as God does for us.
May you see God’s hand and heart for you in all kinds of surprising small ways this week.