When I was a little girl, I attended Sunday School like most of you reading this.  We did the normal things that everyone probably did, including starting at the gathering area where we sang Bible songs and our birthdays were acknowledged by us putting pennies in the church birthday bank.  We were reminded our pennies would be sent to help the poor children in Ethiopia. We were then released to go to our respective classes.  During the class we of course had a Bible lesson with the related scripture reading, read and completed the workbook pages, and made a craft representative of the message for the day. I loved the colorful illustrations from the Sunday School workbooks and the crafts we made and got to take home as well.  

One Sunday in particular I remember learning about having the faith of a mustard seed as was illustrated by the parable in Matthew 17: 14-20. Of course, the parable talked about how the disciples were given the authority to exorcise a demon from a young boy.  They were unable to make this happen and asked Jesus why. He answered them by telling them “Because you have so little faith, I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to a mountain,’ move from here to there’ and it will do so. Nothing will be impossible for you”.

Jesus was teaching them by using the uncommonly small mustard seed as an example, and speaking figuratively about the incalculable power of God when unleashed in the lives of those who have true faith.

This lesson really touched me at the time for a specific reason.  My beloved aunt Edna who was my mother’s oldest sister was our Sunday school teacher.  Every day of her life she wore a necklace that had a small glass globe with a tiny seed inside.  I always wondered what the significance of the necklace was and it all became clear to me that day.  The tiny seed was a mustard seed and was a testament to how she lived her life with a simple, yet strong faith.

She wasn’t wearing it to broadcast her faith.  She lived her life as a faithful Christian every day and her actions spoke to all who knew her.  Not a day went by when she wasn’t doing for others.  If it wasn’t for her family, it was for her friends, her neighbors and pretty much anyone she came in contact with.  I remember her always saying when gossip was being spread, “Don’t believe everything you hear.  Most of it isn’t true”.

She was a wonderful example to all who knew her because of her faith and belief in the goodness of God’s unconditional love. She shared her faith and love all of her 95 years on this earth by how she loved God and served others.  Her “mustard seed” faith blessed all of us who knew her!

Patty