THE PLACE IN THE MIDDLE

By Pastor Carmela E. Head
The Renewal Center

We all seem to know that one person who seems to have a knack for patience.  It seems that they have been given an extra ounce of grace in the area of tolerance.  I know several people who exercise a great level of calmness while waiting for answers.  That is sometimes a great place to be: “cool, calm and collected” while watching what’s needed and required unfold before their very eyes.

I have never been one who has been avid in gardening. I try, but for the most part, fall a bit short during the cultivation stage. Some of us purchase seeds, dump them in a pot of soil, add a little water and keep it moving.  As comical as it may seem, there are just some of us who can sharpen our gardening skills a bit more from those who have a little more expertise in that area.
But, what I must mention here that I desire to become more seasoned in horticulture and in doing so, I enjoy the process of seed, time, and harvest. I am careful to be reminded that a flower, a rose bush, a plant, a tree or even a garden of vegetables must undergo the unfolding of process. It doesn’t happen overnight. We just can’t get around process.

For some of us, we would absolutely just love to skip “time” in the process and go directly from seed to harvest. Hurrying up to get the basket of okra, tomatoes or even peppers would be delightful.  From seed directly to harvest.  Sounds absurd doesn’t it?

Ridiculous as it sounds, that’s our stance sometimes when we just don’t know what do during the time PROCESS, because process takes time, development and cultivation.  We may sometime very well wish we could just skip, overlook or even bypass it. But, with no surprise, if we skip the cultivation part of PROCESS, we will miss one the most important aspect of it.  That is growth.
It’s what’s happening in the meantime that brings those necessary elements to the plant’s growth.  The meantime could mean days, weeks and months and what we witness in the interim is most profound: sprouting and blooming.  Without process there would be no harvest.

As we ask ourselves “what do we do in the meantime?” we are actually asking “how can we effectively wait?”  Sometimes, as we are in the “middle” of process, waiting for manifestation in our lives to occur, we get stirred, eager to see results, and restless. You may ask “How long must I wait?” And just as we see in the process of plant cultivation, we will see that we, too, spiritually, will need to cultivate renewal in our lives by waiting for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and guidance of Holy Spirit.  He is building and depositing ALL of what we will need inside of us so that when we have been fully developed in a particular area,   we will have everything that we need and will lack in nothing.

What can we do in the meantime?  What can we do while we wait for harvest? While we wait we can spiritually cultivate by building ourselves up, by seeking God for definitive direction, we can dive into our devotional time a little deeper, we can be lead to sharpen areas of our spiritual development and gain more refinement and we can ask for more clarity.
So while we are waiting in cycle of PROCESS, we can also draw upon these encouraging words from the Psalmist to help us gain the patience we need as we wait for manifestation:

Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.  Psalms 27:14 (NASB)

There it is.  That famous word, “wait”.  I am chucking as I pen this sentence. I can almost feel that sense of urgency to “hurry and make haste” to find out what the outcome may be.  So even in this sense of urgency, we can ask God for the measure of SUSTAINING patience that we need.

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”  Gen 8:22 (CSB)

What a powerful reminder about seed, time and harvest! When our wavering patience seems to run to nearest exit, we can take this to heart, take a pause (stay cool, calm and collected) and draw from what’s happening in the PROCESS.  It is in this process of waiting that we gain more wisdom and revelation…..an expectation that will enable us to produce a fully ripe harvest with nothing lacking.





Copyright 2023  Carmela E. Head