Did you ever notice just how tiny a seed is? When we hold it tightly on the tips of our fingers, we see a coarse and colorless particle. It is difficult to believe that it hides so much life.

Yet, when planted, it comes alive with blooms, colors, shapes, and sizes. This little nothing turns into beauty and warmth which shimmers in the bright sunlight. It's a miracle!

Sometimes when we observe our lives and journey, we see only a tiny seed in the rough. We do not see our potential to bloom into the wonders of different colors, shapes, and sizes. We do not see Christ's gift of love yearning to break forth into new life within us. We do not believe that Jesus, our new Adam, brings from our littleness the blossom and beauty of eternal life. This is our miracle, but one we have to help along.

As disciples, we labor with Jesus in our garden. We till our soil with prayer and sacraments. We water it by changing what we can and accepting what we cannot. We give it the sunshine of hope and faith on cloudy days. And above all, we give it patience, allowing time to coax it along.

St. Francis de Sales sees us as seeds waiting to bloom into wonderful plants of God's love on earth. He encourages us to nudge it along, but not to rush it. He admits:

"Great designs are accomplished only by patience and the passage of time."

De Sales adds we all have enough time to accomplish this for it is the quality of our days; not the number.