Dear Rose Park,
Six days ago I spread top-soil all over my backyard. Five days ago I tossed grass seed all over the top-soil. Every day since then I’ve been watering the soil just as the bag of seed instructed me. After checking every single day since I spread the seed, I saw the tips of new grass coming through the soil yesterday morning. It’s the simple things in life that bring such great pleasure.
Growing new grass takes time, patience, persistence, and a sense of humor. It can be tremendously frustrating wondering whether you’ve crowded the seed or spread it too thin. It can be terribly anxiety producing wondering if you’ve over-watered and flooded the seed or if you’ve under-watered and dried it out. However, when all the factors seem to line up and the new grass pushes through the top-soil there is a tremendous amount of relief and joy upon the sower.
I imagine it’s a similar feeling to when a teacher finally breaks through to a student. It’s that ‘aha’ moment where the lesson sinks in and the student fully embraces the concept. Or it’s a similar feeling to when a child listens and understands their parent. Or it’s a similar feeling to this: don’t take this analogy too far because it becomes problematic, but I imagine this is what God must feel like when we grow in our faith. The seed is spread in our lives, it takes root, it weathers the storms and winds, and when it pushes through the heavy top-soil of life and grows into the heavenly sunshine I imagine God is tremendously pleased. I imagine God seeing our growth and bursting into claps and cheers just as I was hovering over grass blades clapping and cheering them on yesterday morning.
This is all to say, we are in growing season. Though we are a walking in faith from a distance right now, we are still in growing season. Grasses, flowers, crops, and faiths are growing right now. It’s our hope here at Rose Park to be a cheerleader, a guide for the Way, a sower of seeds, a teacher of the Gospel, and fellow sojourner on this growth journey. So, come join us as God cheers us on, shows us the way through Jesus, guides us through the power of the Spirit, and calls us all to continue growing.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark