PL, I don't know either. When JJ was talking about throwing mustard seeds into my garlic powder, that Bible verse came to mind, to paraphrase Matthew 17:20: "if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains...nothing is impossible for us".

Well, that passage has always irked me, because no matter how much faith I have, I still can't move myself very far, much less a mountain! So then that makes me wonder if I truly have much faith at all. Which could be discouraging if I weren't thinking more positively these days.

I prefer your thought that faith ebbs and flows like the ocean but is always there. I think that's a better fit for me personally.

But it WAS rather thought-provoking to ponder about having faith the size of the thousand mustard seeds that JJ was threatening to throw into my garlic powder. The mustard seed was what made my mind leap from garlic powder to faith...weird how we do take these threads through some strange tangents!