Day Seven

Anyone who has gardened, and many who have not, have heard this warning “ Don’t dig up your seed to see if it is growing!”. Yet how many little ( or bigger ) hands have done just this? I know I have! I will plant my garlic every fall and then wait ... and wait for the garlic to poke its bright, green, grass-like blades out of the ground, promising me that something is happening below the surface. I have been known to dig up a sacrificial bulb to check. 

If only I trusted the process more. 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you to you”
Mat 6:33  

This verse refers to our needs, what we will wear, what we will eat, and where we will sleep. And in case we think God is only interested in providing for our needs, Jesus tells us that that our heavenly Father will also give good gifts to His children. Even better than the gifts we could give to our own children. Gifts are not needs! 

If only we trusted the process more. 

And that trust comes from spending time with the Father, learning how much better His ways are than our own and being willing to lay down our own agenda. To listen to the master gardener, our Lord and Father, and not pull up the plant to see if it is growing. So hard to do! To wait after expressing our need and not grab control, and to submit to His process, acting when He tells us to act, and tending the soil around the planted seed when He tells us to wait. To not take over, out of impatience or fear, and allow God to move in His time... His way.  

When we do this repeatedly, our trust grows, waiting actively by listening to the Father, engaging when and how He says, moving with our Father and following His lead. This is the speed and rhythm where true peace can grow, out of a growing trust in our Father who knows more than we do, who gives good gifts because He is a good Father.  

Walking behind Him in His footsteps we learn we can follow His lead, learning He is faithful and worthy of following.  

That is the beginning of peace. 

Father, thank you for being faithful and gracious to me, giving me gifts that I have not earned. Help me to trust You in the waiting, resting in peace that Your plans and timing are best. ​