Grown in His Time

A Reflection on the First Reading for July 12th, 2020:
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Isaiah
55.10-11

Thus says the Lord: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

This year, my family planted a vegetable garden from seed. I’ve since developed a daily habit of observing it from my living room window. My favorite time to watch has been in June when everything is lush and green in the gentle summer rain. 

Usually the garden looks the same from one day to the next. Sometimes, (being the not-so green thumb I am!) I wonder if anything is growing (other than the weeds!) But over time, the seeds have transformed into near fruit-bearing plants. 

In my own life, there are circumstances where I wish this type of growth and transformation would come sooner than later. Rather than pondering the state of my life’s garden in peace and patience, I find myself staring threateningly at the tender shoots, as if my eyes could force them to bear the fruit of harvest before their time.

Of course, this is not helpful or effective. In fact, it has proven damaging to those “plants” in my garden with whom I am in relationship. Rarely does much sprout or come forth when environments are contrived to hurry things along.

God does not rush. As the rain and the snow inevitably come, so does His Word. Sometimes soft and warm, sometimes torrential and saturating, sometimes frozen, graceful, silent… and all the while, the garden, the landscape so often looks… 

… the same as it always has.

He may not rush, but He is always working.

Just as the rain and snow come down from the heavens, and do not return there until they have watered the earth [...] my word shall not return to me empty.

Of course, the Sent Word was Jesus, God Made Flesh in the world. He took 30 hidden years to develop, grow, mature, and be readied before engaging in His purpose, the will of the Father. An observer might not have noticed much — a poor child, Mary’s boy, the carpenter’s son, an unremarkable shoot in a small town garden, quietly rooted amongst the weeds.

But when Jesus started to move, His impetus was unstoppable, laser-focused, and completely transformational. His formal ministry took only 3 years. Even then, He worked with “relaxed urgency” (Transforming Discipleship by Greg Ogden). Never anxious, always trusting, always knowing the reason for which He was sent. He would not return to the Father until He succeeded in the thing for which He was intended. 

On the cross, the whole process may have seemed a failure. But we know He bore the ultimate fruit — eternal salvation of the world.



Let us pray: God, where and with whom in my life do I lack patience and trust that You are working? For what reasons do I rush?


Even when I don’t see it you’re working
even when I don’t feel it you’re working
you never stop, you never stop working
you never stop, you never stop working

~ Way Maker by Sinach, Leeland




Michelynne Gomez
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