mustard & yeast

Luke 13 

18 Then Jesus said, 

“What is the Kingdom of God like? 

How can I illustrate it? 

19 It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; 

it grows and becomes a tree, 

and the birds make nests in its branches.”

This illustration is spot on.

I grew up on a small farm in southwestern Ohio.

My mother planted a large vegetable garden every year.

As a result, we had a wide variety of fresh veggies to eat.

I remember one year she planted mustard seeds to grow mustard greens for us to eat.

The seeds were impossibly small - about the size of the head of a straight pin.

There were a few of the plants at the end of a row that my mom didn't harvest for us to eat.

She was going to save the seed for next year's planting.

The plant that grew from that teeny-tiny seed was taller than me - probably between 5' & 6' tall!

Sometimes, if we were out weeding in the garden & got hot, we'd sit under the mustard tree in the shade.

Small birds liked landing on it's limbs, & the birds would eat the seeds.

There were LOTS of seeds - plenty for next year & for the birds to eat.

Every time i read these 2 verses, I think about those mustard plants & how big they grew...

20 He also asked, 

“What else is the Kingdom of God like? 

21 It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. 

Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, 

it permeated every part of the dough.”

I remember when I was a child having large family get togethers with my mom's side of the family at my grandparents house in the country.

We'd sometimes be there the day before.

I remember my grandmother & my mom baking bread for the get together.

They would have all these large bowls full of flour & they'd put these teeny tiny packets of yeast in them.

And ya know, that yeast spread throughout all that dough!

I always found that to be interesting.

We'd have all these BIG bowls of dough rising up & almost spilling over.

I remember how wonderful the kitchen & dining area smelled with all that rising dough...

And when my grandma would bake all that dough...

Oh my... what a glorious way the whole house smelled...