Dear friends,
One of my favorite Wendell Berry poems is three lines long. It goes:
The seed is in the ground.
Now may we rest in hope.
While darkness does its work.
I think about this poem a lot, but I think it is especially important to hear during Holy Week. Seeds, to me, are tiny miracles. It is incredible to me that in this tiny thing are all the elements of life, and when put in the right conditions, it grows into a plant that produces fruit. That is an incredible miracle. But the thing with seeds is, we cannot force them to grow, we can only put them in the best conditions possible, and hope that the miracle happens.
I think the same with the seeds of faith, that we are called to spread throughout the world. We put them in the ground, and we rest in hope. Hoping that the conditions are right for something to grow. So that our children make good choices so that circumstances and evil don’t touch their lives, or so that blessings find their way to us.
Holy Week, is a dark time. To stare face-to-face with the Crucifixion of Jesus is hard to do. The disciples couldn’t make sense of it either, which is why they scattered, denied, and worried. Judas even went so far as to seek security for himself. Doing something, anything, to regain a sense of control. It is hard to rest in hope when it feels like the world is crashing down around you.
But, Sunday is coming. So as we put the seed in the ground, trusting the darkness to do its work, Sunday will come.
Peace,
Jordan