"there is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
...He has made everything beautiful in its time..." - ecc. 3:1-8 & 11
a few days ago, kirk franklin posted this via twitter : "remember: fruit out of season will kill you!" wow.
the one thing that differentiates fruit from being sweet, refreshing, juicy and delicious or being bitter and poisonous is this : the season. the timing.
i've really been challenged in this area of late... allowing God to make things beautiful in their time. it's easy for me to want to rush the process and try to hurry things along... i often feel i have a better sense of timing than God does! ;)
i remember when i was young, i planted some beans in a small pot of soil and placed the pot on my window sill. after a couple of days of faithfully watering and waiting, i couldn't stand the suspense any longer, so i dug around to find the beans so that i could check on the progress. needless to say, not much had happened in two days. i buried them in the soil and again waited...for maybe a day, then i dug around and looked again. this kept going on until finally i killed the all the little plants whose process kept being interupted by this little eager yet ignorant farmer! :) the point is, i wasn't willing to wait for the process to happen naturally... i kept feeling like i could help things along.
this often happens in my life... i sow the seed, and water it but after some days, i start feeling the need to "check on things"...to hurry them along. or, maybe as SOON as i start seeing buds, i harvest too early and instead of yummy fruit, i've got bitter, useless or even dangerous fruit.
it's important to let time do its work. there's a time for everything. and we can make it happen, but only HE can make it beautiful. the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing. timing is critical. timing is essential. timing is everything.
"in due time".... a phrase we've heard so often before. how often do you see an expectant mother, who's around her 5th month of pregnancy say, "you know, i'm very tired of morning sickness and swollen ankles - it's time for this baby to come." ??? no, we see mothers valiantly brave every season of carrying that child until the due time.
the baby's arrival is not dependent on the mother's (or father's, for that matter ;)) feelings... the arrival is dependent on the due time for the child... when the process in the womb is complete. it's a process we guard and protect and monitor closely...
i don't know what things you are waiting for...but i do know this... there is a flow when the right time comes. there is a sweetness when the right time comes. there is BEAUTY in the right timing...
and hurrying the process, pushing something out before time, uprooting and replanting over and over will only harm what God intends you to have. don't dig up the beans!! you do your part... plant, water, pull out the weeds, make sure there is sunlight... the rest is up to Him.
daniel 2:20-21a "...blessed be the name of God forever and ever! for wisdom and might are His...He changes the times and the seasons..."
oh Lord, give me the grace to wait patiently for the seeds to grow and mature. give me the wisdom to know the right time to harvest. i pray that i won't despise what i was meant to enjoy simply because i didn't wait for the right timing. You are the Gardener. wisdom and might are Yours. You know what to do... may i follow You. amen.
