Growing Pains

About six weeks ago, my wife and I dug up a section of our yard that was becoming bare of grass. We prepared the soil and replanted grass with a special mulch to help the grass grow faster and come in thicker. According to the instructions on the back of the bag, we planned on having thick green grass to walk on in two to four weeks.

Like an expectant child, I watched for that grass to come in. One week went by, no grass. Two weeks went by, no grass. Each day, Tricia and I watered the grass and did what we were supposed to do, but with no results. I went away for a conference and came back 1.5 weeks later, no grass. I started to think we bought a defective bag. But then after another week, I started to see just a shade of new grass starting to pop up. It was thicker on one side of the patch than the other, but it was coming. And now, ever so slowly, the grass is starting to fill in.

The analogy is obvious. Waiting for something to grow can be frustrating. We live in such a microwave society of 30 minute answers to all of life’s major problems that we hate to wait for anything let alone growth and change in our own lives. When will we stop getting so angry? When will that temptation no longer have a hold on me? When will I be more consistent in my walk with Christ? When will I stop taking my relationships for granted? We think we should have life figured out by now, or we see someone else growing and we think, “Why can’t we be more like them?”

Well, the truth to this dilemma comes from Mark 4: 26-29. Jesus is teaching and shares this parable:

"This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

The good news is, when we accept Christ as our Shepherd we lack nothing (Psalm 23). We have everything we need to grow built right in to us, just like the seed has all the components it needs. Yes, it needs water and time, as do we (Acts 3: 1-9). We need to be nurtured, cared for by the Spirit, by our community, and in full view of the Son. But the rest, the growth part, comes in its own time. You can’t rush growth, it happens over time as it is already laid out in our DNA.

So the next time you’re impatiently waiting for growth in your own life or in the life of someone you’ve been praying for, remember to take a deep breath and try to be patient. In God’s time, not ours, He makes all things beautiful (Eccl. 3: 11). And hopefully, over time, we’ll come to see ourselves the way God does…as His precious and dearly loved children in whom He is well pleased.