Do much with little

It has always amazed me how life has a way of surviving no matter what and living even when the resources to support life are nearly non-existent. That’s why I’m sure that if there aren’t already life forms on other planets, at least those that man visits will soon have life all over them, except where even an atmosphere is absent, because no doubt some kind of life will escape our bulky presence, even if it’s microbes in our wastes.

The office where I work is a metal and glass structure built on a raised concrete platform and is surrounded by asphalt perforated with islands of manicured foliage. The joint between the base of the building and its concrete base is only about 3mm high and I don’t know how deep, maybe 20mm. Into this joint the weather must have blown some dust and plant seeds over the years, because we see dandelions, those hearty and faithful little weeds (I love them), growing out of the crack between metal and concrete.

Here is the first one of the season that has raised a stalk and a golden flower head. The leafy base is smaller than some others that haven’t yet sent up a flower flag, so we know where this one has placed its energies. It never ceases to amaze me how a living creature can do so much with so little—a dandelion growing and flowering where one cannot even see the dust of the earth, where little rain comes, and where the sun beats down hard and hot. That is really good seed, really powerful seed. When the time comes, it too will produce a head of seeds, sixty to a hundredfold, that the wind will carry away from its nebulous crown, and plant perhaps in more plentiful soil.

Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
Mark 4:13-20 NIV

Apparently, good soil is good soil, whether it be little or much!