Seasons of waiting and seasons of harvest

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”- James 5:7

I live in Arkansas where spring is currently in full bloom. The trees are covered with sticky green leaves, flowers are everywhere, and the air has that sunny warmth that tells us heat and humidity are right around the corner. 

Each year, I’m amazed at how things seem to blossom overnight. A branch that was bare one day is covered in buds the next. The grass seems to sprout into unruly patches with one good rain. Spring never arrives slowly…it bursts with abundance. 

This often seems to be the way God works in our lives. We’ve all experienced seasons of waiting…frustrating, formative times when it seems like nothing is happening. 

But when the waiting is over, things rarely grow slowly and steadily. Instead, the floodgates open, and we’re propelled into the next season…sometimes at a pace that feels too fast and too much.

I often wonder why God works this way. I suspect it’s for two reasons.

One, waiting is never truly passive. This is often when God is doing His best work, planting and cultivating seeds in our souls. 

And two, because just like waiting teaches us trust, so does abundance. When we have a God-sized dream, something that feels bigger than ourselves, we have to lean into a different kind of faith—a faith to believe God can do what we can’t. A sustaining faith.

Where in your life have you been in a season of waiting—and what might God have been cultivating beneath the surface?

As new growth begins to appear, what would it look like to balance your own efforts with a deeper, sustaining faith and dependence on God?