Sunday evening, after a very full day, I potted a couple of tomato and pepper plants for our patio. It's not really a garden, but hopefully it will give us a little taste of freshness sometime latter this summer. Monday morning I looked out the patio window at my pots with their 6 inch plants and jokingly reported to Ruth that we still didn't have any tomatoes as if I had expected they would appear over night.
That's not how growth and maturity happens, is it? It will take many weeks for my plants to grow to maturity, for the blossoms to appear and then for the fruit to form and ripen. So it is in our spiritual life. We have to plan and prepare for growth. The planting that is happening in my life right now will bear fruit weeks and month from now as the seed germinates and the resulting growth is cultivated and nurtured. The fruit that is maturing in my life right now is the result of seed that was planted sometime in the past.
As partners with God in the sowing of seed in peoples lives, we need to be looking for the fertile soil - the place to sow that God has prepared. Where is that in your life? What is it that God has specifically called you to do at this time? Where will you sow your seed? Where will you participate in the harvest?
If you have read this far why not hit the comment button and leave your thoughts. Let's work together for the harvest.
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2 comments:
I'm sometimes unsure about what to say in comments, but since you asked, I'll leave my thoughts :-)
I've always been amazed by life and growth. I remember as a child having a difficult time understanding how something could start as a small seed, but grow into a big plant. I remember in the 3rd grade, we put lima beans in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel. In a few days, we could see that seed sending out its little shoot and trying to germinate. That helped us to physically see growth happen, but it did not explain how.
Like you said on Sunday, Growth is God's job. He is the only one who can make it happen. No matter how hard we try, we can't do it. We can make every condition perfect for growth, but God is the one who makes it live. I'm learning now that where my own spiritual life is concerned, it's my job to make sure that the conditions for growth are right. That I am partaking daily and often of the spiritual food and engaging in regular conversation with the one who grows. In all honesty, it is a relief that we are not responsible for the growth of ourselves or others, for if that were so, some things might be pretty messed up.
Praise God for giving us work to do in the planting and the harvest. Praise God for the responsibilities he does give us in both our own spiritual lives and others, but praise him even more for being intimately involved in the entire process from the very beginning, and for not leaving us alone in this process.
And I forgot to answer your question. For me, God right now is calling me to look closer. Take a breath and stop looking to far away for the fertile soil. As a mission-minded individual, I often find myself in the trap of thinking that the fertile soil is in a distant land. And while part of that thought probably stems from a deep call that God has placed on my life to "go," it is wrong for me to ignore the fertile soil that is not hundreds of miles from me, but rather only a few feet, a couple inches, right under my nose or in my own home. How can I respond to the fertile soil that is nearest to me right now? That is the current question.
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