“Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream.” -Josephine Nuese1
The Dream
A dear friend sent me this quote, and it started me thinking. Waiting is truly a precious thing. It gives us a chance to dream about the future. Besides this, it lets us see the value in what we are waiting for.
For those of us who live in Alaska, staying year-round means living with a long winter. A long, dark winter. But even when I’m completely exhausted, even when it seems spring will never come, God’s word is with us. As James encouraged the church in his day, so I would encourage you,
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” (James 1:2-4 NLT, emphasis added).
This means that even in the bleak midwinter we can have great joy! While the birch trees are sleeping and the chickadees are shivering in the bushes, our endurance can grow like a tomato plant in eighty-degree weather.
Waiting
So I’ll wait for the summer because that’s where I am in this season. And while I wait, I’ll dream about the sunshine and feeling the grass between my toes. When summer comes, every day will be a treasure to embrace and delight in.
That doesn’t mean it will be easy. After all, James says that it’s when you are tested that you develop endurance. Endurance means pressing onward for a long time. That’s hard.
Waiting for other things besides spring is hard, too. Waiting to get my driver’s license, waiting to save up money for something I want now, or waiting to start a family of my own are all difficult things. The hardest thing of all, though, is waiting for the Lord to return. Waiting for justice. Waiting for death to be no more. Waiting to hear him say, “Well done,” and know that it wasn’t a mistake, that my doubts were foolish, and that I haven’t wasted my life.
So why else does God make us wait? Or rather, why does God let us wait?
The Reason
In all honesty, it would be a lie to say I have all the answers. I don’t know most things. But what I do know is that waiting gives me an opportunity to look forward to the thing I am waiting for. And it makes it even clearer that it’s all worthwhile. My mom has a CD case that has always intrigued me. The words written on the front say, “Why wait… because I’m worth it.”
What I’m trying to say is: that the Lord has brought you to this season for a reason. Now, I wouldn’t say it’s up to you to dig up what that reason is. He is the one who knows all things. But it is for you to enjoy the times of peace and the times of struggle for he is with you. Jesus said, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 ESV).
Often, we can’t see things from God’s perspective. But we can know that he holds the future and invented loyalty. He will not leave you stranded. He will help you be patient and a good steward right where you are. I know I need that advice as much as anyone!
Notes
- From her book: The Country Garden, 1970, Charles Scribner’s Sons ↩︎