The Seed Sprouts and Grows
Mark 4:27b (CEB) · Tending the Soul: Growing in Grace Through Three Questions
“The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how.” — Mark 4:27b (CEB)
Something is happening underground. The seed is splitting open, sending a root downward, pushing a shoot upward. Life is in motion. And the farmer, the one who planted it, has no idea how any of it works.
We want to understand the mechanism. We want to know which practice produced which result. We want a formula: pray this much, serve this often, read this many chapters, and here’s what you’ll get. But Jesus describes a farmer who watches growth happen and simply can’t explain it.
Spiritual growth is like this. You can’t always trace the line between cause and effect. The moment you realized forgiveness was possible didn’t come because you read the right book. The season your faith deepened wasn’t because you attended the right retreat. Something happened, something real and alive, and the best you can say is, “I don’t know how, but I’m different.”
That’s not a failure of understanding. It’s the nature of the kingdom. God’s work in us is real, but it exceeds our ability to explain it. And that’s okay.
God of hidden growth, thank you for the work happening beneath the surface of our lives that we cannot see or explain. Help us trust the sprouting. Amen.