More than just a season...

I sometimes joke about the idea that in heaven I hope the place the Lord provides for me has a perfected lawn.  I don't know why but I love those yards where the grass is thick and cut short and well maintained, to me that just looks like the type of home I would like to call my own!  Needless to say my grass never looks like that.  For a while I thought I had perfected the art of killing grass in my own yard.  Early on in my adventures in adulthood I did it all wrong.  I never watered, I cut the grass way too short, and I bagged the clippings.  All the things that an expert or a simple google search would tell you not to do!  About two years ago I had a friend who owns his own lawn care business who finally sat down and told me how to take care of it.  It took a while, but I'm finally understanding more about how to keep a yard and take care of it.  

Since that time I've learned the importance of fertilizing, watering regularly, of cutting the grass to a certain length that is not too short, and not bagging the clippings.  My yard looks better than it has in years, but the grass still isn't as thick as I wish it was.  The other day I commented to Jen how much of yard maintenance is a process that just takes time, even several years.  I find that truth to be such an important reminder to my heart.  Too often I can become fooled into thinking that change or growth can and should happen rapidly.  So much of our world continues to value speed and see it as correlating with productivity and effectiveness.  We are fooled into thinking that in our work place, we can be guilty of wanting change to happen quickly in our parenting strategies, even in the way we look at our own lives and habits that need to be broken or change.  In some ways, losing our connection to the ground (from which we came mind you), prevents us from remembering the slow methodical way that God chooses to work in our world.  Incredibly, when Jesus appeared on the scene and began teaching and telling stories many of His' parables were taking agriculture or common topics and using them as illustrations of a deeper point.  Certainly this was to bridge the gap for His listeners, but I wonder if some of the choice of a seed, a field, or even yeast that Jesus used as illustrations for the kingdom were done intentionally to emphasize the steady and persistent working of His kingdom?  These were all topics that his listeners understood didn't happen rapidly or in one season, but could take years to accomplish their goal.

My hope is that my yard will continue to look thicker and healthier as I have learned how to care for it more effectively.  I recognize now that it will take seasons and years before it looks the way I would like.  There are small and subtle changes that I notice from time to time because it is steadily growing and permeating to other areas of the yard.  That's the way the kingdom is working both in my heart and all around me as well.  Our role is to responsibly participate in His kingdom work by patiently and faithfully committing our lives to the work.  Sometimes we will see fruit, sometimes not, but God is in charge of the transformation, we are simply called to the task of serving and sharing.  That's a reminder to myself and others not to become weary of the task but to as Paul said, press on towards the goal God has given to us in Christ Jesus.