![]() My wife is planting a garden. We’ve had gardens before. I do not like several kind s of vegetables, but there are a few I really like. And I really like it when those vegetables are fresh. There is truly nothing like plucking a juicy tomato off of your own tomato plant vine and popping it in your mouth. To know it has not been sprayed with junk, clutched by a machine, and piled in a truck before it was ripe, makes it taste 100 times better. I love that. I think it is cool to know that a single seed produces dozens or hundreds of vegetables. I am a big fan of our garden. But I am not patient. I like the concept of growing food. I love the produce. But I do not like the process at all. I am too impatient. From the first day the seeds are planted I am constantly looking for results. We all know that there are results, but they are hidden and slow. So I get frustrated. I tell my wife, “Nothing’s happening.” She assures me that there will be food if I am patient. I obsessively look every day. Eventually I get so frustrated that I don’t look anymore. Then one day there is one tomato. It gives me hope, but it then takes forever to mature. Then, when no one is looking, the garden takes off. Before you know it, we have more vegetables than we can eat... enough to share with friends and neighbors. This is no thanks to me. I am not faithful enough to plant and care for the garden. I am not patient enough to wait for results. The fact is, I end up eating food of less quality because I am not sold out to the process. I eat someone else’s produce because I do not work the system. There are seasons in life. There are seasons of planting, seasons of growing, and seasons of harvest. Harvest is the reward for the risk of working and waiting. In our spiritual lives, we all want to eat the bread, but no one wants to make it. We want to enjoy the fruits… but not of our labors. We don’t spend time in the Bible, and prayer, and fellowship, but we are frustrated when others enjoy the blessings that come with these disciplines. So many believers want to walk into church on Sunday and pick up someone else’s harvest. Then we wish we had a fresh blessing. But we didn’t invest in the fields God gave us. There is an expectation with each season of life. We all want to experience fresh blessing, but we wonder why it doesn’t come to us like it comes to others. Here’s the thing… new seasons come to everyone. But the fruit of harvest only comes to the faithful and patient. And old Biblical proverb says, “The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.” (Proverbs 20:4) But the apostle Paul encouraged the early Christians, “Whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:7-10) Check out more of David's work at Heart Of Ministry. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
March 2019
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