
"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20
LISTEN TO: Jason Castro, "This Is Only a Mountain" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OWLs1G3q1o
In our front yard is an unusual round patch of ground. It is the mark of where a maple tree once stood. However it fell during Super storm Sandy and had to be completely removed. All that remained was a patch of wood chips. This round, barren spot captivated Forrest. He mixed in garden soil. He planted rings of nasturtiums. Then for good measure, in another stretch of the lawn he planted dahlias and sunflowers. Where that wonderful maple tree stood, now are beautiful orange/yellow nasturtiums. Why nasturtiums? They were the favorite flower of Forrest's beloved grandmother. And she loved nasturtiums because they were her mother's favorite flower. They are a symbol of enduring love and goodness. Life goes on and life finds a way to bloom, even in the wood chips and aftermath of storms.
If you were to ask me a year ago, would we be here, enjoying the beauty of nasturtiums following the felling of that maple tree, I wouldn't have been able to conceive of it. But that's what happens. The storms of life hit. Many precious things are destroyed and damaged in the storms' path. We discover that mountains are not just those large land-forms stretching above the land around it. the mountains we must scale have to do with loving in and living through difficult situations. Having faith that God will see us through when it feels like we've just been dropped down a crevice. Having hope that God will bring us through and open new doors. Paul reminds us in Romans: For in this hope we were saved. "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 8:24-25"
Forrest scaled his mountain in bringing new life to that wounded path of soil. He gave that soil his best: the sweet memory of his grandmother's love, a great-grandmother's love: strong as a mountain, a love that can weather any storm, that can bring nasturtiums out of wood chips.
That's how we conquer the mountains. We scale them with patience, faith and love. God's love, and the love we carry with us, down through the ages, and the love that around us -- that love will see us to the other side, where the nasturtiums are waiting to bloom.
PRAY: "God, grant me the faith to face my mountains"