Sermon Central
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Growing Potatoes Takes Time
Contributed by Paul Steen on Dec 24, 2018 (message contributor)
Be thankful while you wait. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
My Aunt Grace had a large garden. One time she showed me how to cut seed potatoes so that each piece had at least one eye, and we planted them in the soil behind the house. The waiting was agony. At first there was no progress at all, but Aunt Grace encouraged me to be patient. When the first green leaves started showing, I was ready to start digging. If there are leaves, then there must be potatoes, I thought.
Aunt Grace had to dig up one potato just to show me it was too early. As the potatoes began to form, she would gently brush back the dirt and show me that the potatoes were there, but they weren't ready yet. A few new potatoes were good to eat, but if we were to have enough, we needed to let them grow to maturity.
The process was so long that I gave up checking my potatoes. It wasn't exciting anymore. It took too long.
One day Aunt Grace announced the harvest. We unearthed sacks of potatoes. The harvest was exciting! Every mound was a new discovery. And I found more than potatoes that day. The lesson I learned has served me well. The harvest was worth the wait, but without the wait, there would have been no harvest.
Spiritual growth means planting and waiting. Don’t get discouraged.
Be thankful even while you are waiting.
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