Today’s passage is Matthew 13:31-6.

When Jesus speaks two parables about the kingdom of heaven being like a mustard seed and leaven, Matthew comments that Jesus always spoke to the crowd in parables to fulfill a prophecy about himself.

Pastor Kim talked about God’s grace on Sunday.

The tiny mustard seed that grows into a bush so big that birds perch in it is an example of God’s grace in action.

God’s grace builds the kingdom from incidents and events that I see as insignificant.

Today was the first day of school.

Kids were excited about being back and seeing their friends and familiar teachers and who the new teachers were.

I had introduced two changes to work on this year, both designed to push further the climate change in the school that God’s been working on since I arrived.

Neither of the changes could have been introduced three years ago.

To the latest changes most of the teachers said, “Of course,” because they understand what’s happening.

A few said, “Wow!” A few held back, waiting to see if the latest changes would work.

The mustard seed moment came when a parent and professor declared that what we’re doing is unique in Korea.

No other school is changing the school climate by changing attitudes and developing calmer, more caring, more focused students.

The professor said I should write it up.

I resisted because God is responsible for the changes, not me.

What’s happened is that the initial small changes began growing in the minds of a quarter of my teachers.

They have become the birds perching in the mustard bush, adding color and music.

Things are taking on a life of their own. More and more students understand too.

They see that they themselves are instrumental in helping to foster the new climate they like to live in.

It’s a lot like Wooridle Church.

If I’d read today’s passage three years ago, I would write a different QT.

Today I see how a school climate has grown from a mustard seed and I understand a little better what Jesus means.

I see how, by God’s grace, a tiny change occurred in my heart eight years ago, and the kingdom of heaven began to grow in me.

And without my change, there would not be the change in my school.

It’s a huge lesson for me. I am the mustard seed.

Lord, I pray you grow me for your loving purposes.

Let me not slide back into old habits of selfishness, arrogance and dismissing others as irrelevant and insignificant.