It’s Time to Grow
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 14, 2015
MK 4:26-34

I was visiting some friends who were babysitting their little granddaughter. She was anxious for me to read her new book with her. My friends, who had already read the book with her, were anxious for me to take a turn. So, the child ran into her room, came back with something under her arm, jumped up onto my lap and presented NOT A BOOK…but her iPad. It took no time at all for her pudgy little fingers to click onto her “favorite book” called “Sid the Seed.” There was no reading to be done by me. The author, David R. Pagen, who illustrated the book as well, also reads the written words as the iPad turns the pages.

Sid is a little seed that lives in a dark hole in the ground with a spider and a caterpillar. They enjoy sharing their home and seem completely content. Moreover, they are all afraid of what is outside…the unknown. Eventually, the spider becomes restless, explaining, “The world is so big, it’s time that I grew…it’s off to the outside to find something new.” Their friend having literally soared out the comfort of their dark, little hole, Sid the Seed and the caterpillar resume their ordinary routine. A few pages later, however, Sid the Seed awakens to find the caterpillar has been transformed into a cocoon that soon breaks open, freeing a beautiful butterfly. Before rising out of the dark hole to soar through the sky, the butterfly announces that: “The world is so big, it’s time that I grew…it’s off to the outside to find something new.” Poor Sid the Seed, however, has grown so comfortable in his surroundings and so intimidated by the prospect of change that he lives on all by himself.

Finally, one day, Sid decides there just might be something more than the hole in which he has basically imprisoned himself. He begins to drink water. That causes him to grow uncontrollably, until, like his friends, he has broken through to the surface. Once reaching the life-giving sun, Sid continues to grow and mature until he becomes a majestic tree. The story ends with Sid’s two friends seeking protection and shade under his beautiful crown of leaves. Sid’s reaction to his metamorphosis was simply: “Life is more full!”

This little story reminds me of Matt 11:25…I give praise to You, Father, Creator of heaven and earth…for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, You have revealed them to the childlike. If my little friend is able to make the connection between the liberation of Sid and the Kingdom of God, then, at a very early age, she will know what many people have never learned…or have forgotten; she will understand this Sunday’s Gospel.

We sometimes bury ourselves deep within our day-to-day lives. We become content and we fear change. And so, we remain in the dark. And then, someone takes the initiative and makes the suggestion that “the spider” made. The Kingdom of God is so big…it’s time that we grow. This Sunday, we resume Ordinary Time and we continue in this season of germination, sprouting and growing until Advent. Let’s use these months of Ordinary Time to move outside of ourselves. With just a little commitment and patience, like Sid and his friends, we can break out of the dark holes that we’ve grown so comfortable in, and grow and develop and mature into something extraordinary…something eternal…where LIFE WILL BE FULL!