Sowing Life

Sowing Life

Each Sunday morning at my small, inner-city church, twenty-five or so women gather in Modular D, Room B. The sign on the door says I’m their teacher, but quite often they teach me. Sometimes we have coffee, but not always. Sometimes, when the teacher is feeling a little flush or a client has just paid their bill, we have donuts. But those things aren’t why we come. We come because we want to open the Word of God together and be taught by his Spirit. We’ve pored over Romans and Genesis, been wowed by the miracles and proclamations of John’s Gospel, wondered at the beauty of the Psalms, and parked ourselves in the thick of prophecy in Daniel and Isaiah.

In the process, we’ve been bound up together in the boundlessness of God. Our lives are not alike. Some of us have laugh lines, and some don’t yet need to moisturize. Some live in the suburbs and commute in. Others walk from their homes nearby. Some are married; others are not. Some have children; some don’t. Some have advanced degrees, and others have GEDs. We are black and white, Hispanic and Asian. We’re sisters in God’s Kingdom.

I’m honored to be among these saints. I’m thrilled to see them come in, open their Bibles, and say, “We’ve got to get Joseph out of prison! Are we going to get him out this week?” I’m humbled, too, by their faith. Together we have prayed for jobs, finances, family members, illnesses, test results, travel mercies, and more. We have celebrated together the births of children and grandchildren, engagements and weddings, graduations and new jobs.

Together we are learning to lean on our Father and to love one another. We are finding our way in the world with his help, and seeing the fruits of his everlasting love in one another’s lives. We’re in this together—and on any given week we’ll find a reason to celebrate. He’s just that good, and his Word is just that true. We’re expectant, and why shouldn’t we be? Dream-telling Joseph was finally released from prison and put in charge of all of Egypt. So who knows what tomorrow will bring?

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants.

Matthew 13:31-32