Planting and harvest

As if there isn't enough to do, Bruce keeps bringing home grapes or apples to process. Personally, I would rather buy the produce off the supermarket shelves, but there is a certain satisfaction from seeing jars of produce on shelves and know you had a hand in making them.

But that isn't really what I wanted to blog about. There's been a lot to do lately, and of the type that leaves a good deal up to circumstances or other people. Fruit is easy (except for being hard work), you know what you have to do to get the results you want--pick the fruit, clean it, cut/juice/smash/cook it, put it in jars, add sugar (maybe), put on the lids, boil filled jars the required time, put the processed jars on the shelf, clean the kitchen.

But how do you find a new job? Or a new host family for an exchange student? There's a process all right, but the results are less certain--research, make contacts, prepare your information, disseminate it, and then wait. Wait for someone to call, wait for someone to ask questions, realize nobody is going to call, do it again. Wait. It's demoralizing and discouraging, and there are a lot of unknowns.

Through this process, this time, I finally figured something out--better late than never! I have known I cannot accomplish my goals by myself--too many things were out of my control and dependent on others. For this and several other reasons, I've made greater efforts to seek the Lord's will. The problem here is that I've always felt bad because I had the theory that my faith was insufficient and I wasn't trying hard enough. THIS time, I have realized that the Lord isn't really unhappy about my supposed lack of faith. Building a relationship with Him isn't His test of us, but His invitation for us to test Him. He knows that building trust takes time, and doesn't expect us to have perfect faith in him right off the bat. He doesn't just expect us to take His word for it (even from such an impressive authority as the scriptures), but to prove Him. For how many years have I heard/read this and it didn't hit home?

I have heard that we should pray as if everything depends on the Lord, and work as if everything depends on us. In theory it sounds understandable, but in reality, when is anything enough? What is the relationship between them? So my conclusion at this point? The Lord gives us the seed. That's His part. Our part is to prepare the ground, plant, and fertilize. And then it's His part again and He sends the sun, the rain, and the miracle of growth. The more ground we prepare, the more He has to work with. Being prone to guilt, of course I can always say, "I could have done more", but a wise woman at church suggested that if we counsel with the Lord as to what we should do and what we have done, the Lord will let us know if we've done enough. What more do we need to know??

So what is the result of all this pondering? Well, still no new job. BUT the host family I was looking for came forward, and they are really neat people--the husband being the mayor, no less, of one of our local communities. The Lord knows where to find them!! My part was getting the word out, HIS part was bringing it to the attention of the right people. Who they are, the timing of the whole thing, and the graciousness of them and the temporary host family all show me the Lord was in on it all along.

The Lord's patience in working with me is astonishing and heart-warming. And the results of me working with HIM are inspiring and effective. The harvest is sure. I am grateful.