What are you growing?

While I don’t necessarily want to belabor the point of my previous post, I do want to point out one beautiful metaphor from Psalm 1:

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Do you see what the Lord compares the righteous to?  A tree, planted by water.  Notice the contrast, how He describes the wicked: chaff, which the wind blows away.  Do you know how long it takes to grow a tree?  I’ve only recently appreciated the forethought it takes to plant a tree.  My absolute favorite memory of my childhood was playing in a tree in my front yard.  It really was the most awesome climbing tree.  I spent at least thirty percent of my waking hours in that tree.  And never once broke a bone falling out of it, might I add.  (And neither did my brother…which is somewhat miraculous.  He broke many bones along the way…)  Now that I have little ones, I wish I had a good climbing tree for them to grow up in.  But, I didn’t have the forethought to plant one when my first was born.  It’s not like I can plant one this spring or fall and have it ready by next summer.  No!  A good climbing tree takes years!

YEARS!

Do you understand?  That’s how long it takes God to mold us!  Years!  It is not just one planting season, one hard, hot growing season, and then *poof* we’re ready!  Full grown, mature plants.   No, it takes many springs, many hot, sticky, fun summers.  It takes many seasons of fall, where loss is all we can see.  It takes many winters, many seasons where it feels and looks like we. are. done.  But, after winter, spring always comes.  And for the believer, this cycle continues, season after season.  As the Lord grows us into maturity.

Not so, the wicked.

Chaff, it’s easy to grow.  Just one year.  But, it is also gone, *poof* just like that.

 

But that’s not what God is making out of you.  God is pouring out His legacy into you.  God is making you into

…Oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

He doesn’t mess around with His splendor.  He is making out of you, a place for His glory.  It will take many springs, many summers, many falls, and many winters. Wherever you are in life now, please know it is just a season.
If you feel like everything around you is falling apart,
it’s just a season.
Do you feel like you have nothing left to give?  Barely living?
It’s just a season.
Is it spring in your life?  Are you enjoying the fruitfulness?  Are you enjoying the fun times of summer?  Please, don’t be alarmed when fall comes.  It will come, it must come.
Because God is not done with you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
in cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
unrevealed until it’s season, something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
there’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds a mystery,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Hymn of Promise   – Natalie Sleeth, 1986