By Michaela Moore
Another story. “God’s kingdom is like an acorn that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge oak tree, and eagles build nests in it.”
Another story. “God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread — and waits while the dough rises.” (Matthew 13:31–33 MSG)
On an afternoon like this, full of rain-turned-sleet and such dense clouds that not even one shard of sunshine can break through, my children and I make bread.
Flour, salt, yeast, water — a simple resistance, a defiance, to the relentless shadow surging outside the kitchen window.
An artisan dough like this one is quite wet and heavy. It whirs like a shaggy blob in the mixer. Even with our hands floured, we struggle to get a handle on it, to transfer it to another bowl, toweled over, to rise.
As my little ones giggle and smear the sticky remnants in between their small fingers, I consider the dough hidden away under the light of the range hood, resting atop the stove. It will need several hours to rise today with the chill and lack of natural light. But it will rise. It will grow and ferment and produce something beautiful.
A small pinch of yeast — like a breath, like a seed — will lift it up and make something new.
Small but Deep
As Matthew recalls the teachings of Jesus to the early believers, he reminds them that God’s way is the small but deep work. Small graces given and received, worked in and through, produce transformed life. God uses little things coupled with time and patience to produce in us nourishing, beautiful life.
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“There, in the depths of our hearts and even below our conscious awareness, new life rises up.”
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Small faith planted far beneath the ground can move a mountain. The childlike spirit, tender and unabashedly free, will enter the kingdom. The meek, with arms open in cruciform love, will inherit the earth.
Church mothers, with knuckles deep in the dough of ministry, echo this truth. Consider Saint Therese of Lisieux and Mother Teresa both calling to the church to “do small things with great love,” pinches of mercy with the transforming power of God Himself. This is the way of God.
And even as we come before God in prayer and Scripture, this deems true. We call this lectio divina: the slow reading of a small passage several times over pondering, waiting, listening. As we read, we imagine the passage, and allow words and phrases to rise up like bubbles in our hearts. We fight the urge to consume God, reading in mass and large quantities, but instead allow God to permeate us. The small selection of Scripture sinks in deep: mixing with the contents of our soul, the Spirit kneading and pressing, and then finally resting in God’s presence covered and still. God’s good words are the yeast, the small pinch of grace, that transforms us utterly.
I peek inside the bowl and see the dough now doubled in size. Under the covering of the tea towel, there is life blooming up to the rim.
And so too it is with us. The divine work takes place when the yeast of the Scriptures are invited into us, pondered, and then covered. There, in the depths of our hearts and even below our conscious awareness, new life rises up. As we humbly concede to God’s words, we are transformed into Christlikeness and can then, in turn, offer our lives as nourishment to the world.
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“Allow the Scriptures to sink below the surface into your soul.”
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Questions and Reflections
Read Matthew 13:31–35 three times. If you are able, read aloud slowly, savoring the words. What words or phrases stand out to you? What part of your own life comes to mind as you read? What invitation is the Spirit offering to you?
After reading, is there anything you would like to say to God? Share with God what these words stir in your heart.
As you close, sit in silence with God’s Word before you. Allow the Scriptures to sink below the surface into your soul. Breathe deeply. Ask if there is anything God would like to speak to you. Wait for several minutes, noticing any words, phrases, people, or images that come to mind. Before you continue with your day, close by thanking God for His Word, His Spirit, and His transforming love.
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Michaela Moore is the mom of three curious rascals and a pastor at Mount Zion Free Methodist Church on the north side of Kokomo, Indiana. She has a B.A. in English, education, and social studies from Spring Arbor University and an M.A. in ministry and spiritual formation from Wesley Seminary. She enjoys country road runs, coffee with friends, beautiful books, and long, laugh-filled walks with her life partner and co-pastor, Jackson.
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