You might not know it from the weather we have been having but it’s spring. It seems like we are getting all of April’s showers in the month of May. Despite the wet and cloudy days this is a season for planting, working the soil and getting seeds into the ground.
There is a certain act of faith to planting seeds. We know how it is supposed to work. The seeds go in the ground, germinate, begin to grow, and eventually produce fruit or flowers to be enjoyed. Yet, when that seed goes in the ground it is hard to see the evidence of what will be. Every year people continue to plant seeds in the belief that a harvest will be reaped.
Jesus compared this to the Kingdom in Mark 4:26-29:
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
We live in a world of ‘on-demand delivery’ and ‘instant results.’ We aren’t terribly patient with taking time for things to grow. Our own spiritual growth can frustrate us. Jesus’ short parable reminds us that God is at work even when we don’t see it or understand it. But know this, we will reap a harvest based on the seeds we sow.
Good gardening takes patience, effort, and time but the results come because God is at work in his creation and in our lives. Don’t lose hope if the harvest hasn’t come yet, good things take time.