I just had an interesting conversation with someone about how most people fail to get where they want to go in life because they’re always giving up when they don’t see immediate results. Nothing new, but still fascinating.
I can only speak for myself, but I have learned that things take time. Sometimes a lot longer than we think it should or want it to, and we become impatient when we don’t see the fruit of our devotion; when we don’t see anything appear in the darkness, the void, the empty space, not realizing that “we” are the seed itself, the thing that will emerge from the “darkness” of the soil and begin to grow into full-fruition.
Matthew 17:20 says “if we have faith as the mustard seed.”
What I think most people fail to understand is that this has nothing to do with the “amount” but rather a state of consciousness (mustard seeds are some of the smallest in the world, so I can see where that thought comes from).
To have faith “as” a mustard seed, is to have the faith that it “will become” the mustard plant, because that is what it is; that is its nature.
It does not have the consciousness of an apple seed or another seed; it does not compare itself with another; it does not hinder its life by wishing, “I could if I was only this, or had that”; it has faith that everything needed is contained within themselves—they are pre-equipped for what is needed ahead. My Grandmother always use to tell me, “God has already given us everything we need.” I believe these to be one and the same.
Comparison is the thief of joy, and yet, the majority of the world is spinning around in just that state of mind.
I am not opposed to it; I believe in free will (Deuteronomy 30:19).
I just don’t have time for it (Galatians 6:4–5).
“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)
One of the things I have learned is that, yes, we can dream any dream and have it come true. But the “how” is not up to us. We must simply step into it and enjoy and observe it as it come to pass; we are to witness it.
The alternative being the opposite . . . watching the dream die right before your eyes (nothing can “live” in hell).
You know what I have also learned? The more you don’t give a fuck about who, what, where, why, and when, and what they think about you . . . the more you begin to breathe, to slow-down. There is no pressure, no fear. And where there is no fear, there is eternity.
So here is the invitation…
Let yourself slow down long enough to remember what kind of seed you actually are. Not the one you wish you were, not the one you compare yourself to, not the one the world tells you to be—but the one whose nature is already written inside you. The one that doesn’t rush, doesn’t panic, doesn’t claw at the soil demanding results. The one that grows because growth is its nature.
Give yourself permission to stop measuring your life by immediacy. Stop judging the darkness of the soil as failure. Stop assuming nothing is happening just because you can’t see it yet. Seeds do their best work in the unseen.
And maybe—just maybe—loosen your grip on the “how.” Let the steps unfold the way they’re meant to, not the way you think they should. Let the dream come in its own timing. Let the pressure fall away. Let yourself breathe.
Because when you stop forcing the world to hurry, you finally give your own life room to become what it already knows how to be.
Until next time, be well and peaceful,
The Billy J
Your Perpetually Friendly, Neighborhood, Cosmic, Jedi-Surfer