Nothing in life that’s worthwhile is immediate. Even though I often want it to be! I wish I only had to tell my kids “stop hitting your brother/sister” ONE TIME and then they’d get it FOREVERMORE.
“Stop whining” has been said soooo many times I’m starting to wonder if they even have ears.
But God has been telling my heart repeatedly lately that you gotta keep sowing those seeds.
As we walked through a sunflower field today (most of them starting to die from the summer heat) it was echoed to my heart again as I held my son’s hand in mine.
IT TAKES TIME!
That sunflower seed doesn’t shoot up over night. You plant the seed. You water it. You let the sunlight do its thing. And eventually you start to see little shoots of green break forth from the soil. And after a while, it turns into a tall, beautiful, and budding sunflower in all its glory.
But it’s not just my kids. I am reminded that the work of making me into something beautiful isn’t instantaneous either. It takes time. And just like my kids, God has to teach me over and over and over before I even remotely get it, too!
How often he must look at me and say, “You still aren’t hearing me. So let’s try this lesson again”.
God tends to our hearts tirelessly and gently. Never ceasing to see what needs changing to turn us into something beautiful—-like Christ!
And so, I must be like Christ to my kids. Ever patient. But relentless. Sowing those seeds. Over and over. Waiting for the day that will come if I’m faithful to tend to them. One day I do hope the seeds planted will blossom into something magnificent and beautiful. But all in it’s time, right? Cause heart work can’t be as instant as I want it it to be!
“Be patient, therefore, brother, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the Earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.” -James 5:7
