He replied, “Because you have so little faith. 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)

My “about” page is one of the most frequently hit pages, and the term “mustard seed” is often one of the search engine categories that leads people to find my blog. But I’ve never really said why I picked that name, why I thought that represented me.

So here goes…

When Jesus tells his disciples that faith the size of a mustard seed would allow them to move a mountain, he’s responding to their struggle with a problem that they couldn’t quite wrap their minds around. He tells them that because they couldn’t see their own potential, the potential of the Holy Spirit (which they didn’t know about yet) working within them, the way that God wanted to use them.

But he doesn’t really berate them or tell them they’re awful people. He just tells them that if they would have a little faith, they could move mountains.

I sometimes wish I had more faith. I sometimes wish that I could understand everything or let go of the things I don’t quite understand. And I find myself realizing that I acquire the faith I need for when I need it, that the mustard seed of faith and hope that I began with continues to grow as necessary to match the situations I need to wrestle with. It’s not always when I think it’s necessary, but I have it on time.

And so, I write. I write from my own experience. I write from my own questions and struggles. I write when something strikes me that I think someone else might benefit from. It’s not always a fleshed-out, finalized thought, but sometimes, it’s the beginnings of a conversation about what it means to follow Jesus. I don’t doubt that some will disagree, but if it begins an unraveling of the problem for someone else or it causes someone else to see a new dimension of God in their daily lives, then the writing is justified.

So thanks for reading. Enjoy the ride.