I planted a garden a while back, and now I’m watching it grow. Patiently watching it grow. Daily I go out and look at them, and it seemed as noting was happening. Nothing sprouted, and some of the plants looked like they were shriveling instead. Leaves towards the bottom starting to brown and die off slowly, and plants shriveled back towards the earth. Patiently I tended the garden, pulling out the weeds that tried to choke them, and clipping dead leaves, while waiting some more. We are of course of the generation of intent gratification, “generation now” so to speak. The type of people who sign up for services and expect same day activation, schedule a payment on line and have their mortgage paid by tomorrow, and in an instant can send a correspondence to a friend halfway around the world, and have it in sitting in their lap(top). Our culture is that of instant gratification, and expects results quickly. From ordering our food through speaker boxes and never leaving our car, to the ads on the internet that promise we will drop a dress size in a week, we are always looking to get results and revel in instant fruit of our not so laborious labor. Gardening though, is not so expedient.
When the garden is first planted, especially if you sew your own seeds, it seems like nothing happens, or worse the leaves that are on the surface are dying! But under the soil, the plant is adjusting to the changes in their new environment; the roots are weaving their way down into the earth, and establishing a foundation to grow on. Week after week a person can look for superficial changes, signs that the plant is really different, really changing, but they will find nothing. Finally about a month of watching and tending, the plant, they will start to grow. First signs of new green leaves with sprout, new buds will emerge from the ground and everything will start stretching towards the light of the sun. The plant at this point is still not producing any flower, or fruit. It is just simply growing, gaining height and surface area, still weaving its roots through the soil below. Fruit, even in an established plant comes later in life, after a season of growing.
We are often times like my garden, planting new things in our lives, and expecting them to instantly start producing fruit, some times looking as soon as the next day to enjoy the benefits of our labor. Whether it be establishing a new exercise program, and jumping on the scale the next day seeking weight loss results, or planting new habits in our lives and expecting instantly to stick with them, life just doesn’t work that fast. Anything that is worth bearing fruit takes time to establish itself in our lives. As long as we tend to it though, some times pulling out things that are choking it, or clipping off the things that are sucking life out of it, it will grow. We just have to be patient. I only hope that I can extend the same grace I give my garden, to myself, and the people around me.
When the garden is first planted, especially if you sew your own seeds, it seems like nothing happens, or worse the leaves that are on the surface are dying! But under the soil, the plant is adjusting to the changes in their new environment; the roots are weaving their way down into the earth, and establishing a foundation to grow on. Week after week a person can look for superficial changes, signs that the plant is really different, really changing, but they will find nothing. Finally about a month of watching and tending, the plant, they will start to grow. First signs of new green leaves with sprout, new buds will emerge from the ground and everything will start stretching towards the light of the sun. The plant at this point is still not producing any flower, or fruit. It is just simply growing, gaining height and surface area, still weaving its roots through the soil below. Fruit, even in an established plant comes later in life, after a season of growing.
We are often times like my garden, planting new things in our lives, and expecting them to instantly start producing fruit, some times looking as soon as the next day to enjoy the benefits of our labor. Whether it be establishing a new exercise program, and jumping on the scale the next day seeking weight loss results, or planting new habits in our lives and expecting instantly to stick with them, life just doesn’t work that fast. Anything that is worth bearing fruit takes time to establish itself in our lives. As long as we tend to it though, some times pulling out things that are choking it, or clipping off the things that are sucking life out of it, it will grow. We just have to be patient. I only hope that I can extend the same grace I give my garden, to myself, and the people around me.
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