Not by Hammer, But by Seed

This morning, I sat with Matthew 13:3 and 1 Peter 1:23, letting the imagery settle into me like dew on the porch rail. “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.” Not a warrior. Not a lecturer. A sower.
It strikes me again—Christ doesn’t establish His kingdom by force or even persuasion. He plants Himself. Quietly. Tenderly. Into the soil of our humanity. Into me.
The kingdom isn’t built like a structure. It grows like a garden. Not through effort or noise, but through life—His life—taking root in the hidden places. I’ve spent years trying to “do” ministry, to support others, to hold space. But this parable reminds me: the church, the kingdom, even my own calling… they’re not produced by work. They’re born through growth. Through the slow, sacred unfolding of Christ within.
I think of my shed. My longing for a sanctuary. I’ve wanted to hammer it into being, to finish it, to make it “ready.” But maybe the kingdom begins not with walls, but with seeds. Maybe the Porchlight Chapel is already growing—in me, in the conversations I host, in the words I write.
Christ is the seed. The Word. The life. And when He’s sown into the soil of my story, something holy begins to rise. Not because I strive, but because He lives.
So today, I’ll tend the soil. I’ll welcome the seed. And I’ll trust that the kingdom is growing—even if I can’t yet see the bloom.