I think we are all too busy. When I say this I definitely include myself, being that right now I work 2.5 jobs and when the summer is over will return to my absolutely packed junior year of college. Part of it comes from living in NY where everything is in hyperdrive speed compared to any state to the south of us. But I’d have to say a great deal comes from our surrounding culture. Everything is about how fast, how much, and how little time we need to invest to get the maximum return. Microwave this. Instant that.
As I was thinking about some things God is personally teaching me in this season of my life, I began to think about my little garden in the back yard and all the rain we have been having here lately. My garden is no big deal. A row of tomato plants, some peppers and some lettuce, with some herbs inside the house on a ledge. (Although I am very proud of them all lol.) So I began to think..what does a plant need to grow? Not a hard question right? Some kind of seed, soil, sunshine, water, etc. But then God began to direct my thoughts to the quality of the things the plant needs, not just the what. The quality of the seed, soil, sunshine..and specifically what I want to focus on, the kind of water that the plant needs to grow at it’s best. The type of water that a plant needs is a steady, soaking rain. Too little water, and the plant will dry up and die. Too much water, and the soil around the plant will be destroyed, and eventually the plant damaged.
What a great analogy to what we need in our Christian lives. Let me be clear that I am not saying doing this, plus this, plus this will give you the life you’ve always wanted. We cannot work for our own salvation, for it is a free gift from GOD, and we cannot force fruit to be produced inside of us, because it is GOD who causes the fruit to grow. But we can work to create an environment where the fruit or change that God wants to bring about in us can grow at it’s very best. This is where the rain comes in. The rain is like the presence of God. We need to be in it daily to allow God to work in us the way that He desires. Too little of spending time with God, and we become weary, bored, we begin having attitudes and behaviors that don’t reflect who God is. Eventually if we stay in the place of no rain, our spiritual lives will dry up and die. Trying to get one big huge dose of God to last a while, causes us to not “feel” God when we come off a once in a while encounter with Him, and then we begin to think God isn’t with us, our hearts become needlessly discouraged, and our spiritual lives begin to be damaged.
What we need is to steadily spend time with God daily “soaking” in His presence and letting His word change our hearts and minds. We need to ALL learn or remember how to take time and wait on God and listen to what He has to say. Just like it takes time for a plant to grow it’s best fruit, it takes time for God to produce fruit in us.s Be patient. Be steady. Learn to soak it in.
