SEEDS
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6
Exhaustion, a weekend together, and a common love of laughter probably had my friends and I giggling out loud at the clever statement of one of our friends! Five of us were squished into a car, that holds five, making the journey home from San Diego. The discussion in the car had covered an array of topics before it landed on the question, who would drive us to our activity later that afternoon. A fair exchange of driving is something we always try to maintain and we had two volunteers to drive right away. But when I told my friend she had to decide, her answer had each of us rolling. She replied by saying, "It doesn't matter to me, I mean it's not like I'm being called to drive, but Im fine either way." We all thought it was so funny, because each of us has had in some form or another, received some sort of call from God. My friends answer was funny and clever, but we all knew that she was just being silly. And of course, like most things normally do, this got me thinking about the calls in our lives.
It's been about a year since I experienced, what I believe was a call from God in my heart. Since then, I have been doing all that I can to open my heart and to truly follow that call. I've prayed, pushed, and trusted in God. But I think that, like most things, following God's call for each of us, doesn't just happen automatically. I believe that these things take time, and patience, and dedication. And certainly I've been doing my best to practice these things while following my heart.
But what I realized is this, following a dream that God places in your heart takes all of these things; patience, prayer, dedication, trust. But beyond all that, following a dream that God places in your heart takes GOD! Shocking, I know.
It seems like such an obvious and practical thing. It's basic. But as much as I seem to tell myself I understand this concept, I don't always live my life in this way. I think that as humans we tend to want to take matters into our own hands. When things aren't happening quickly enough, when we get anxious, or fear things wont end the way they should, we try and force them. We can't be content with waiting for God to do His thing, we act like we can just go ahead and do it without Him.
And that's the exact place I've found myself lately. Anxious, worried, and impatient, ready to force things to happen. I've been selfish and acting like I can just accomplish these things all on my own. And that's when it hit me smack in the face, hello, God is God. I, however, am not. I'm not writing the story. I'm not controlling everything. I don't have to plan it all out. I just have to let God be God. If I truly believe in my heart that God gave me this dream, and if I truly believe that God is all powerful, which both of these things I do, I must also truly believe that God has the ability to make what is meant to be happen.
It's like a gardener who tends to a seed. God plants the seed in our hearts. He gives us a call. And if we strive to answer the call, we each water the seed. We place it in the sunlight. We nourish the call, we seek out growth, and try to follow with our hearts what He has placed there. But why does the seed grow? It's not just because we water it. It's not just because we place it in the sunlight. It's because God created the miracle of the seed in such a way that it would grow under the proper care. Of course if we take the seed and ignore it, or throw it in the trash, it's not going to grow. If we hide it from the light, it won't grow. And in the same way the seed won't grow if we get impatient with the seed. It will die If we try to force it to grow by drowning it in water or overexposing it to the sun. In order for a seed to grow, we must nurture it just enough by giving it just a sprinkling of water and a fair amount of sunlight. Then, once we've done those things, we must trust that God will allow it to grow. That the miracle He has created will unfold.
God may have a seed in your heart now and He may plant one there in the future. But when He trusts you to the care of those seeds, when He shares with you those calls, take care of them, water them, and place them in the sun. But do those things by constantly bringing the progress of your seeds back to God. And then leave the miracle of growth to the one who created it. Because He knows exactly what the seed is supposed to grow into being.
1 Corinthians 3:6
Exhaustion, a weekend together, and a common love of laughter probably had my friends and I giggling out loud at the clever statement of one of our friends! Five of us were squished into a car, that holds five, making the journey home from San Diego. The discussion in the car had covered an array of topics before it landed on the question, who would drive us to our activity later that afternoon. A fair exchange of driving is something we always try to maintain and we had two volunteers to drive right away. But when I told my friend she had to decide, her answer had each of us rolling. She replied by saying, "It doesn't matter to me, I mean it's not like I'm being called to drive, but Im fine either way." We all thought it was so funny, because each of us has had in some form or another, received some sort of call from God. My friends answer was funny and clever, but we all knew that she was just being silly. And of course, like most things normally do, this got me thinking about the calls in our lives.
It's been about a year since I experienced, what I believe was a call from God in my heart. Since then, I have been doing all that I can to open my heart and to truly follow that call. I've prayed, pushed, and trusted in God. But I think that, like most things, following God's call for each of us, doesn't just happen automatically. I believe that these things take time, and patience, and dedication. And certainly I've been doing my best to practice these things while following my heart.
But what I realized is this, following a dream that God places in your heart takes all of these things; patience, prayer, dedication, trust. But beyond all that, following a dream that God places in your heart takes GOD! Shocking, I know.
It seems like such an obvious and practical thing. It's basic. But as much as I seem to tell myself I understand this concept, I don't always live my life in this way. I think that as humans we tend to want to take matters into our own hands. When things aren't happening quickly enough, when we get anxious, or fear things wont end the way they should, we try and force them. We can't be content with waiting for God to do His thing, we act like we can just go ahead and do it without Him.
And that's the exact place I've found myself lately. Anxious, worried, and impatient, ready to force things to happen. I've been selfish and acting like I can just accomplish these things all on my own. And that's when it hit me smack in the face, hello, God is God. I, however, am not. I'm not writing the story. I'm not controlling everything. I don't have to plan it all out. I just have to let God be God. If I truly believe in my heart that God gave me this dream, and if I truly believe that God is all powerful, which both of these things I do, I must also truly believe that God has the ability to make what is meant to be happen.
It's like a gardener who tends to a seed. God plants the seed in our hearts. He gives us a call. And if we strive to answer the call, we each water the seed. We place it in the sunlight. We nourish the call, we seek out growth, and try to follow with our hearts what He has placed there. But why does the seed grow? It's not just because we water it. It's not just because we place it in the sunlight. It's because God created the miracle of the seed in such a way that it would grow under the proper care. Of course if we take the seed and ignore it, or throw it in the trash, it's not going to grow. If we hide it from the light, it won't grow. And in the same way the seed won't grow if we get impatient with the seed. It will die If we try to force it to grow by drowning it in water or overexposing it to the sun. In order for a seed to grow, we must nurture it just enough by giving it just a sprinkling of water and a fair amount of sunlight. Then, once we've done those things, we must trust that God will allow it to grow. That the miracle He has created will unfold.
God may have a seed in your heart now and He may plant one there in the future. But when He trusts you to the care of those seeds, when He shares with you those calls, take care of them, water them, and place them in the sun. But do those things by constantly bringing the progress of your seeds back to God. And then leave the miracle of growth to the one who created it. Because He knows exactly what the seed is supposed to grow into being.
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