A friend who has cancer maintains a positive, hopeful outlook in the midst of receiving chemo treatments for her bone marrow.

“You always inspire me,” I told her recently as I coped with the anxiety of a job search.

“You just made my day,” she said. Her gracious reply energized me to banish the idol of worry and put my attention on the things of God.

Tiny seeds of appreciation, respect, encouragement, love, and compassion do grow and spread and bear great fruit.

Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.” Mark 4:26-27