Below the Soil

 (04/19/11)

Recently my daughter got some seeds as a “bonus” that came with a pack of yogurt.  She was so excited to get them that I decided to take the opportunity to help her learn how to take care of flowers.  Unfortunately, I have what I would term as a “black thumb”; and being that I cannot teach what I do not know, I decided to call for reinforcements.  All I can say is, “Thank you, God, for Aunt Kelly!”  A couple of weeks later, Kelly, Zoe, and I took a trip to Lowe’s Hardware to get soil, seeds, and the basics for planting a few small flowers.  That night we took them home and I made supper while Aunt Kelly and Uncle Allen walked Zoe through the seed planting process. 

Once the seeds were planted, Zoe started to ask, “When will they grow?”  We all answered with, “It might take a while.”  Each day after that, Zoe went outside on the deck to check her plants and continued to ask, “When will they grow, Mama?”  I told her over and over that it would take some time, but one day I found myself saying, “Most of the growing takes place below the soil, and then all of a sudden, one day you will see the flowers begin to bloom.”  And the minute that came out of my mouth, I began to think about the works of God in our lives.  Each day we may ask God to help us in certain situations (i.e. healing, personal growth, the reconciliation of a relationship, the growth of a ministry, etc.); but we may not see the evidence of that help for quite some time.  Just like with the flower, God takes His time working “below the soil” so that when we see the end results of His work for us, we know that they can only be from Him.  He takes His time to make sure that we get something more beautiful than what we imagined in the first place.  So the next time we are asking God for help, let’s give Him time to work “below the soil”; and in the meantime we can trust Him and praise Him for the beauty that is to come.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)