Spring hasn’t been here long, but it almost feels like summer. Despite the dip in temperatures here for the last couple of days, the spirit of summer has already fallen on my family.
Yes, we have the loose ends of school work dangling for a little longer. Yes, the bulk of our garden has yet to be planted as we wait out the last frost. But regardless, bedtimes are creeping later and later, and the front porch sitting has commenced.
Oh, summer is coming.
But it’s not here yet. And I have to hold fast to that as my kids dawdle their way through their math lessons. I have to put the brakes on the basketball games that threaten to overflow the lunch break and take over the afternoon, less the loosey goosey schedule everyone (even me!) craves right now take over. It’s simply not time.
I want to read more fiction, spend time in my garden, eat all the fresh vegetables, and drink my morning coffee on the front porch while listening to the cicadas sing. But it’s not time.
And if I let what I say is important simply dwindle away because the sun has come out and the ground is waking up, what am I saying to my kids?
How can I tell them to finish what they start if I don’t show them?
How can I expect them to stay committed when something else comes along?
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.—Hebrews 10:36
So few of us are good at endurance. We lack this fruit because our flesh is weak, and we are drawn to the next good or glittery thing that comes along to distract us from the boring routine we’ve fallen into.
What we’ve forgotten is that there is a special joy in expectation of what’s to come— and a deep, peaceful satisfaction in knowing that we have fulfilled that which we set out to accomplish.
So I can enjoying the blooming irises, fresh asparagus from my patch, and the sounds of baby birds hidden in nearly every little nook of the farm, while I faithfully finish the work I began months ago. I can look forward to the taste of a still-warm cucumber plucked from my garden as I serve what’s left of last summer’s canned goods in my pantry. I can endure, and I can show my children what it is to wait patiently for the yes God has coming.
This is a beautiful way to illustrate to them an even deeper truth of God’s timing and faithfulness, while building up their muscles for postponing what they want while still enjoying what God has said you need.
Summer is coming, and it will be amazing. But spring is still here. I praise God for it!
In Christ,
Heather
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