But there's also a benefit that comes from taking part in the process of nurturing this seed as it grows to become a full-bodied tree. In nurturing this seed, the gardener is participating in the broad fabric of life. I'm not expected to think about who made the jacket or how it was made, or about who gets my money or how it will be used. The idea is that this exchange is made, and it begins and ends in that moment. The gardener knows better, and so does Jesus.
Life is a process.
All those moments string together to form something. For the gardener, it's the process of growing the seed into a tree. For Jesus, it's the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not so much the fact that, at one moment, I may do something good and, at another, something not so good. And how much I fight it.