My grandmother was a beautiful person – inside and out.
And she loved the Lord.
One thing I remember about her was how she loved to create and tend her gardens. She especially loved flowers. They were colorful – just like her!
I have a certifiable “brown thumb” – rumor has it, I’m not the only one (you know who you are!) So I appreciate someone who can bring the beauty of a well-tended garden to life!
That was my grandmother.
But my mom tells a story about my grandmother. About a lesson she learned long ago.
One time she planted a bunch of flower seeds in her yard. She carefully cultivated the soil, tenderly placed the little seeds in the ground, and faithfully watered every day.
And waited…
And waited…
Finally, she just couldn’t stand it any longer. She thought it was taking too long. So, she dug up one of the little flowers, just to take a peek at what was going on…(it was just a little peek, what could it hurt?)
There was the little seed, with a green sprout growing out of it. My grandmother took the little seed out of the ground, and put it in her hand, and poked it around a little bit.
Feeling a little encouraged, she put the seed back in the ground, and covered it up with dirt again.
About two weeks later, all the flowers bloomed…and they were beautiful!!
Except one…
The one my grandmother had dug up, and handled, and fiddled with – it was stunted, and it never fully blossomed.
My mom said my grandmother saw a “God Lesson” in that.
Prayers are like those seeds. We cultivate a right spirit within our hearts. We plant our petitions in the heart of God. We faithfully water them, reminding God of our needs.
And we wait…
But sometimes we don’t think that our prayers are being answered fast enough. Maybe we don’t see the proper results. So…we meddle. We insert ourselves into the “growth process.” We try to help God along…
It’s just a little bit of help…what could it hurt?
It could keep a beautiful flower from blossoming. It could “stunt” the end result. We could thwart God’s FULL plan from developing.
Plant your prayers…and wait.
God will work HIS purposes, in HIS timing, for HIS results.
Thanks, Nana, for your wonderful lesson!
“Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.” (Romans 12:12)
“I waited patiently for the LORD to help me…” (Psalm 40:1)
“Let all that I am wait quietly before God…” (Psalm 62:5)
“Blessed are those who wait for his [God’s] help.” (Isaiah 30:18)
“As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently…” (Micah 7:7)
Confidently plant, faithfully water, patiently wait…and watch the Lord grow!
BLOG = “Blessedly Leaning On God!”
Hi Sharon -
ReplyDeleteThis is a story with an important message indeed. Thank you, Sharon, for sharing this "seed" story about your precious grandmother and the lesson that she learned, and passsed on to you.
Sometimes we in our finite minds, attempt to over rule the RULER WHO only is infinte in all things. We "inform" GOD that we know better than He does so we go about on our foolish journeys, - get deceived, wounded, battered, and sometimes broken - and where do we (if we are sensible) return - to the infinte RULER - the only place of complete love, peace, safety and security!
Thank you, Lord, for Your abundant mercy, longsuffering, and forgiveness!
your Nana indeed was a wise woman, Sharon! It is so true that we are such impatient beings that we have trouble waiting on the Lord and his timing, which of course, is always the best timing and his answer to prayers always the best too! I am guilty of meddling (a lot) in things I've prayed about, but this year I'm really trying to work on trust and allowing God's timing over mine :)
ReplyDeletedid you get to spend a lot of time with your Nana when you were growing up?
betty
What a beautiful lesson in this garden story! We need to take our hands off the thing's God is growing, and let those buds blossom!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.... I need to spend more time planting prayers!
ReplyDeleteI love this, Sharon. I remember many
ReplyDeleteyears ago listening to Oral Roberts
preach about seed faith when no one
else was preaching that way. Now
nearly everyone is. It's in the
Word and it's true. I think we dig
up our seeds because we don't have
the patience to wait for what the
Lord was going to grow.
Blessings,
Sandy
Hi Sharon,
ReplyDeleteThis is a timely word for me. Please God I will take notice of it. I am not a patient person - take care, God Bless - Nita.
Wonderful! I can't imagine WHO the brown thumbers are around here. Nope. Nobody like that at my house. They call me Mrs. Greenjeans...
ReplyDeleteI love this analogy and stand as guilty of it as I do of lying over my brown thumb. I have done some meddling in the past, and it produced an Ishmael, if you know what I mean.
My problem right now is erring in the direction of doing "nothing" rather than dig around the seed. I just can't seem to get it right.
Hi Sharon,
ReplyDeleteThis post speaks to me of patience, trust and faith. If I am to experience the blessings of answered prayers, I must wait, trust and have faith in God.
Impatience always sabotages my prayers.
Blessings and peace.
MTJ
I'm reading this one to the grandson. LOVED IT!
ReplyDeleteSandie
Sandra - What lovely comments! (You might expand on them and make a post out of them!) How foolish we are to try to "tell" God how to run things! As if He needed our "help." He truly is so longsuffering! His ways are true, His timing is perfect - we just need to trust Him.
ReplyDeleteBetty - I did get to spend a LOT of time with my Nana growing up. She was a wonderful woman - kind, sweet, faithful. She loved me unconditionally, and always talked to me about God. I remember her fondly for so many reasons, and I'm so happy I'll get to see her again some day. And yes, I am trying to trust God more, and to stop "meddling!"
Debby - Yes, yes, yes! Let those buds blossom...without MY help!!
Denise - WELCOME! Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you liked this story. I'm right there with you - I need to spend more time planting prayers, and less time worrying about why things aren't growing!!
Sandy - Oh yes. Patience is such a difficult virtue, isn't it?? My friends and I talk a lot about "process" - by that we mean, letting God work a situation out, in His time. Letting the process take place, in our hearts too, and not trying to "rush" God's timing. There are lots of "seed" references in the Bible - it would be fun to find them all sometime!
Nita - I'm glad that God spoke to you. I am not a patient person. But often my impatience comes out through worrying. I'm beginning to understand how my worrying is really "meddling" too.
Debbie - Did you like how I threw us under the bus? I am cracking up - produced an Ishmael! So funny, so true! Maybe we can pray about our spiritual brown thumbs. I know that the same thing I do with plants, I do with prayers. Either I underwater (don't say them enough, don't do anything) or overwater (worry, worry, worry - and try to work things out my own way). We'll get it right someday...
MTJ - "Impatience always sabotages my prayers." That was quotable. Sabotage makes something inoperable. And you have brought out a good point. Impatience just makes faith inoperable. And it also makes a person miss the blessing of waiting...
Sandie - Oh, I'm so glad you're sharing this! Hope he gets the same lesson out of it that I learned from my Nana. See, Sandie - always know that you are having an impact on his life. (And yes, it's a good one!!!)
So good to talk with all of you tonight...
Hope to hear from you soon -
GOD BLESS!
Oh Sharon,
ReplyDeleteI am so bad at waiting. I just like to help out. You know, that's in my nature. Besides, I always feel like the Lord takes too long. But I don't wanted stunted prayer blossoms any longer. I will do my best not to meddle.
Thank you for your encouraging post.
Blessings,
Janis
Avid gardener here and I so understand this message. Sometimes it's hard to get everything just right. Thankfully the perfect gardener is tending us so we can produce a good bloom.
ReplyDeleteOh Sharon, that was awesome!! Such a beautiful lesson on patience! Thank you for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteHugs, Carolyn ~ Cottage Sunshine
Janis - It's in my nature, too, to "help" God along, just a little bit...hmmm! I'm trying to learn to leave things alone, let God be God! Glad this was encouraging to you!
ReplyDeleteDenise - OK, let me get this straight! YOU got all the "green" in the gardening thumb category for your family...Don't tell "you know who" I said that!! Just sayin'... Denise, I admire anyone who can garden successfully, and can't imagine how difficult it must be to get everything right, as you said. But, absolutely, thank goodness for THE Perfect Gardener. He knows when to plant, when to water, and when to harvest...
Carolyn - Thanks so much. Patience is tough. I've "stunted" plenty of blooms in my time. But God is gracious - I just need to trust His gardening skills!
GOD BLESS!