Last week I shared about Sarafina’s flowerpot garden. It was a labor of love for her but also for our family because we had to remember to regularly water the plants and pay attention to their needs. So, when the tomato plant started to grow taller, we put the wire cage around it to help support the plant. But we made a huge mistake with her watermelon and pumpkin plants, which had been planted behind the shed. When they began to vine out from the base of the plant, we did not place any barrier around them. One day, one of the boys was mowing. He was in a hurry and accidentally mowed over these growing plants. We had not stayed faithful to tending all the plants. We took good care of the one’s nearest the house, but the one’s further away, where the garden hose did not easily reach, we sadly neglected.
In Galatians 6:9, Paul writes, “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.” Planting for a harvest requires regularly tending and “doing what is right” to keep the plants nurtured and growing. It requires us to fend off enemies (bugs, animals, and fungus), while providing the food necessary to keep the plant growing toward production.
In the Kingdom of God, we are called to plant seeds and tend to the newly formed plant as it begins to move toward maturation and production. It is in this time between planting and harvesting that too many lose heart and falter in the work of doing what is right and good. The busyness of life or the frustrations of slow growth, make us weary. We forget about some of the important boundaries needed to be placed around the expanding plant to protect it from danger.
As we apply this to our spiritual lives and our shared experience of Jesus with other people, we recognize the intimate relationship necessary to be available to the ones who have questions, the ones who need “spiritual watering” to help them to grow, and the ones who need boundaries to protect them from being attacked from the outside as he goes deeper in his seeking the Kingdom of God. We pray for the harvest and wish it could be immediate, but just as a plant does not produce fruit overnight, spiritual fruit takes time to be ready for harvest.
So, don’t grow weary…
Prayer: Thank you, Lord for the opportunity to be part of the planting, watering, and harvesting of new lives in the Kingdom of God. It is not always easy work and I confess I try to find shortcuts or even neglect your calling. Forgive me. Strengthen my heart when I grow weary. I want to see the harvest. Don’t let me give up on the hard days. In Jesus’ name. Amen.