Mark 4

Most of Mark 4 is repeats of different parables we heard in Matthew: the soils, the lamp, the mustard seed.

Then this one new parable:
"The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil, and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day and the seed sprouts and grows - how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. but when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come". v. 26-29

Very clearly, these verses describes the Christian walk, how we grow once we've accepted Christ as our Savior and start to learn. It can be fast growth or slow, just like the different plants, depending on who we are and how we are nurtured. Plants with a tropical atmosphere and lots of rain grow and flower quickly. Plants that grow in an area without much water and hard soil, grow more slowly, but are made to endure.

I thought this article on plant growth was a perfect analogy:

What after all is more important - how the garden looks 3 months after being built, or how it looks and feels five years later?...The Strawberry tree from Southern Europe is an ideal specimen for a Mediterranean and mild winter garden. It is evergreen, growing slowly to about 8-9 meters. It has an interesting sculptural form, becoming twisted and gnarled in maturity, and a uniquely beautiful peeling bark, revealing a reddish-brown trunk...There are in fact a number of advantages in growing slow growing trees over fast ones. The primary one being that they are much easier to shape and train in the early years than many rampantly growing trees.

When I first became a Christian I was like a plant in a tropical forest. I sprouted up quickly and my flowers were bright and beautiful. But over time, they withered. My life has been a series of fast growing Hawaiian delights that would die once I gave into circumstance or trial. But there has been a constant strawberry tree that has been growing slowly beneath the surface that has and will endure. That tree has withstood the refining fire, the lack of water, some bad soil, but still stands. My faith is true and secure, "twisted and gnarled in maturity, and a uniquely beautiful peeling bark."