31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
Matthew 13:31-32
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matthew 17:20
In five different sections of the New Testament, Jesus refers to mustard seeds metaphorically in relation to the kingdom of heaven and to faith. The mustard seed is a very small seed that has the potential to grow into a large tree. The lesson is that exercising even a small amount of faith transforms a heart into one compatible with the kingdom of heaven.
President Nelson spoke of the mustard seed last year:
Alma asks us simply to experiment upon the word and “exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if [we] can no more than desire to believe.” The phrase “particle of faith” reminds me of the Lord’s biblical promise that if we “have faith as a grain of mustard seed,” we shall be able to “say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto [us].”
The Lord understands our mortal weakness. We all falter at times. But He also knows of our great potential. The mustard seed starts small but grows into a tree large enough for birds to nest in its branches. The mustard seed represents a small but growing faith.
-President Russell M. Nelson, “Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains“
As I have pondered these words, I have reflected on the virtue of being “small” and the “least of all.” In most clear terms, this life is a test to see if we will obey God despite our own desires and imperfect understanding. It is to see our thoughts and pre-conceived notions as wrong when incompatible with His.
The test is a quest to eliminate pride from our hearts. It is the most difficult of all challenges we each face in this world–to consider ourselves as entirely less than God and to fully love all of our brothers and sisters here on earth. We are not here to value ourselves, nor our opinions, more than the love of God.
So when I think of the mustard seed, I think of the faith it takes to crush my ego down to nothing so that the seed’s pure code can most effectively take root in my heart. That is how mountains of stubbornness can be moved out of a heart, even uprooted as the sycamine tree washed away by the sea.
The leap of faith required to push my prerogatives to the back seat has been the hardest challenge I have faced in life. I often have to trust in the wisdom of those who have more developed faith than my own as I consider my options. Sometimes we truly need the Gift of the Spirit described by this verse: “To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful.” (D&C 46:14)
By no means am I a great practitioner of these concepts. But I have had moments of mountain-moving in my life that I cherish, and I hope these words can help us all do a little better at shedding our prideful ways.
While exercising a little bit of faith is great, exercising the faith it takes to eliminate pride will move mountains in our lives as we accept choices that are difficult but the right ones to make.
What else? How do you remove stubbornness from your heart?
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