
First of all, it reminded me of Jesus’s admonition to his disciples in Matthew 17:20 when he told them “‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’” Do you know how small a mustard seed is? SMALL! (See left.)
It doesn’t matter how much faith we have. If it did, then all the power would be in our own ability to increase our faith. Rather, it matters how genuine our faith is. To put it simply, faith=trust in God. And as Christian Blogger Natalie Regoli says, “Genuine faith is either present, or it is not.” We either believe God can do things (no matter how weak or small that belief might be … aka … a mustard seed) or we don’t believe he can. There really is no middle ground. Fortunately, as God demonstrates his faithfulness, our faith grows.
Second, it reminded me of Ephesians 6:16, when Paul, using the image of the Praetorian Guard garb, exhorts Christians to “take up the shield of faith.” Our faith/trust in God is our greatest defense against Satan's attacks––against fear, uncertainty, etc. But what struck me most, was the image of the praetorian guard with those huge shields (much like riot police with their shields), standing side by side and forming an impenetrable defense. True the shield does protect the individual soldier, but look at its power to defend when they stand together as a unified force.
That field of mustard, with thousands, if not millions, of blossoms side by side was a reminder that the same is true for the believer. Yes, our individual faith protects, shields, and provides security for each of us, but when we stand together, it creates a beautiful carpet of impervious defense.