One of the great blessings of living on the North American continent is the tremendous diversity of trees we have.  For people who don’t travel much, maybe it doesn’t always seem that way.  After all, many city streets are lined with just a handful of “popular” species.  But the truth is we have more kinds of trees than many other parts of world --- the rainforests being one obvious exception.  For example --- Europe has fewer than 100 native species of trees while our Appalachian Mountains alone have hundreds, and that’s just one region of this vast continent.  And as you well know, a couple of the most incredible trees in the world are both found in California.  I’m talking about the Coastal Redwoods and the Giant Sequoias.

The enormous size of these remarkable trees is unbelievable. And as you can imagine, they take a very long time to grow.  Redwoods --- slender and straight as an arrow reaching for the heavens, and Sequoias --- a little bit shorter but much more massive, especially at the base.  It’s not uncommon for people to stand at the bases of either of these great trees and be completely awed, completely dumbfounded.  “How in the world can they grow so tall?” we wonder.  And to think --- they each start out as a seed, a small object that looks like nothing, looks lifeless, looks completely insignificant. 

And somehow, miraculously, under certain conditions, a slim few of these tiny things will become something majestic, other-worldly, beautiful, and life-giving to all the other species that call them home.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

Of course, this sort of radical transformation doesn’t just take place in this one specific instance.  Similar things happen all the time.  A tiny Mom and Pop restaurant that struggles for years somehow grows into a business with locations all over the place.  A five-year old girl taking her first piano lesson becomes a concert pianist.  A few homes in the middle of nowhere become a thriving city.  A young boy struggling to learn his ABCs becomes a college professor.  A little kid taking his or her first steps becomes a marathon winner.  A neighbor you hardly know becomes a best friend.  A co-worker you are meeting for the first time becomes your spouse and the mother or father of your children.  And the most obvious one --- two cells come together and somehow, miraculously, here we are.  Yes, from small things, seemingly insignificant things --- wonderful things can happen.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

Lent is soon coming to a close.  And the tone is shifting somewhat, getting a little more somber.  And the reason is because THE MYSTERY is beginning to unfold, and is coming into focus.  Of course, I’m talking about the Paschal Mystery --- the pattern of a life of authentic faith, the pattern that was on full display in the life of Jesus --- in everything he said and did and experienced.

And it starts with dying.

Faith is hard because dying is hard.  We do so much to avoid it.  We strive to meet our needs before others.  We protect our egos and feelings of self-importance.  We do what works for us without necessarily thinking about what is best for someone else.  We cling to all sorts of earthy things and place a value on them that, in the end, doesn’t make much sense.  And we put our own will --- wants and desires --- at the forefront of just about every decision we make.

And “dying” isn’t any of those things.  It’s working long hours at a job we don’t like in order to provide for our family.  It’s being willing to put in the time and effort to achieve something rather than always trying to take an easier path.  It’s reaching out to the new person at work or on the team or in the classroom. 

It’s searching for ways to make our spouse feel happier, a little more at peace, more safe, more loved. 

It’s waking up each day wondering how we might make someone’s life a little better through something we are willing to say or do.  It’s simply asking ----- what am I willing to let die in me in order to bring about some greater good?

Dying is really all about the sacrifices we are willing to make, the “losing” of our lives - the making ourselves “small” so that something enormously wonderful and beautiful and life-giving can grow from us through the power of God’s grace.  And that can’t happen if we have an inflated view of ourselves, if we see ourselves at the center of everything, if we expect the world to be in service of us.

But if we resist the temptation to think that way, if we place God’s will above our own, if we allow God to provide the perfect environment for the tiny seed that is each of us to grow and grow and grow --- who knows what the result might be?  Who knows what fruit our obedience and humility and openness might bring about?  Who knows what great things might result from something so seemingly small and insignificant as ourselves?

There’s a redwood or sequoia of goodness in each us.  That’s how we were made.  Let’s be sure to let God work on us (and in us and through us) to bring about all the wonderful things this world needs.