I've been working on an essay based off of 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, speaking on the key (or what is not the key) to spiritual growth. In this study, my mind was drawn to the parable of the growing seed in Mark 4:26-29. The surprising truth of this parable is that growth in God's kingdom happens apart from our direct involvement. According to Jesus’ parable, the kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground, then goes to bed. Day after day he wakes up and finds that seed sprouting and growing, producing a crop all by itself. He didn’t do this work. He doesn’t even really know how it happened. He certainly can’t take credit for it. To stretch the parable, I suppose if you were to ask the man the secret to the seed’s growth, you might receive a disappointing answer. (Not unlike the answers I’ve sometimes received from older parents when asked how they got through the early years of child-rearing.) He would simply shrug. Who knows? The Lord must have done it. And the Lord will keep doing it until the crop is ready and the time for the harvest has come. This ought to be our response should anyone ask how we account for growth in our midst. A simple shrug. Who knows? We put some gospel seed down. We watered it with the word. Then God did the work according to His will.