"High Hopes"

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. (Luke 17:5-6)

When I was a child and found myself discouraged … when I seemed to lack something, feeling as if I didn't have enough of that "whatever" within me … when I thought a task before me was impossible, I would sing to myself a wonderful little song called “High Hopes”. Surely you know the song. The lyrics are by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen and it was made popular by Frank Sinatra. The first portion of this song goes like this:

Just what makes that little old ant
think he'll move that rubber tree plant.
Everyone knows an ant can't
move a rubber tree plant.

But he's got high hopes,
he's got high hopes,
he's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes.

So anytime your gett'n low
stead of lett'n go
just remember that ant.
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant.

The Scriptures found in Luke 17:5-6 take me back to that time when a child named “anna” said, "But I can't. I am just a child. I don't have enough within me". What I didn’t know how to say at the time was, “Increase my faith!” The apostles heard of the impossible. A tiny bit of faith uproots the mulberry tree and flings it, roots-first, into the sea. The child sang of the impossible. A bit of ant-sized high hopes moves a rubber tree plant.

Do you suppose that Jesus told the apostles of the mustard seed of faith and the uprooting of the mulberry tree to the tune of "High Hopes"? For the child in me, this is a delightful thought!

God of children, of apostles and of ants, of mulberry trees and of rubber tree plants, of mustard-seed-sized faith and of high hopes …. It is you who does the improbable and the impossible with our small faith. We pray that you work through the amount of faith that we have now, but O God increase our faith. Uproot and replant us when we say, “Here I am, send me.” Uproot and replant others when they hear the words of faith that you have asked us to share. Our faith is that you are always faithful. Thank you for knowing of the possibilities found within tiny ants, small children and disciples who find high hopes in you. Amen.

anna