by Cathy Messecar

Mountains and mulberries--they don't seem to have much in common. But Jesus used both as examples when teaching about faith. One time Jesus said if someone tells a mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea," and doesn't harbor any doubt about his request--it will happen! Another time, the Master of Prayer said mustard-seed-faith disciples could tell a mulberry tree to throw itself into the sea and the tree would obey!

Did Jesus want to teach a lesson about the size of things that could be moved? Was he trying to let us know that even deep-rooted mountains and trees are not unconquerable to the Father? Why did Jesus choose these for his object lesson? Were they the largest things at hand when he was teaching? Did their size count? Did their sturdy foothold in the earth have a correlation to his point? I'm convinced that the size of the object to be moved wasn't the focus of Jesus' lesson, because God can crumble, move or shake anything. The power is his, and he can wield it.

The real intent of Jesus' lesson was on the one who prays? Jesus wanted his followers to realize they could bring tiny seeds of faith and plant them in God's creative hand and expect great results. Faith-seeds can be magnified, multiplied and mega-sized in the hand of God!

When did you last ask God for something--totally believing that he would answer? Have you boldly asked for something earthshaking--beyond the realm of your imagination? Sometimes my "human reasoning" precedes my prayers. Then I find those doubts interrupting my requests. Often, before I am aware of what is happening, I'm giving God a list of reasons why the requests aren't valid. That's when the mulberry reminder is needed.

We have a mulberry tree outside our breakfast room window. In the spring, we like to watch the crows forage on the ground for the fallen berries and the blue jays dart in and out of the branches picking the choice fruit. Because of all the activity, the mulberry tree is the center of attention for a few weeks each year, and we've taken advantage of this backyard lesson. We have the words of Jesus on a card on the windowsill to remind us of his faith lesson, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea', and it will obey you" (Luke 17:6).

God wants us to place our faith seeds in the fertile soil of his love--and walk away knowing that he will organize, rearrange or uproot in our world. Most of us will never have the need to say to a mountain, "Get up and move over yonder." Or I've never had a salvation-issue reason to say to my mulberry tree, "Get out of my yard! Go, plant yourself in the Gulf of Mexico!" But God knew we would need strong visual images of mountains hiking up their roots and walking off and of fruit trees settling in salt water. His loving nature wants us to comprehend his power and goodness--his willingness to respond to our needs.