GOD'S SEEDS: TIME-RELEASED CAPSULES -- Devotional for February 18, from "Good Seeds"

I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow” (I Corinthians 3:6).

I live in Sonora, a small town with a rural lifestyle. Even so, most of its residents still live the life of the sophisticated city dweller, enjoying and depending on all the latest technology today’s society promises. We don't expect a small child to work for what he wants, or even to wait for it. He knows what he wants and fusses and cries until all his needs and wants are satisfied (nothing big here, just the basics of food and warmth and comfort). But as he grows up hopefully he learns to wait and work for what he wants and needs. But today’s society allows us to almost be children again. Consider these cases of instant gratification of our wants: we can insert the nozzle, pull a lever, and immediately gasoline flows into our car's gas tank; we can sit down at the computer, type a few lines, push “send,” and off goes our letter to friends on the other side of the world – or the other side of the street; or we can pick up the remote, depress a few buttons, and into our living room floods an endless variety of information and entertainment. Though not necessarily wrong, this kind of living does not reflect the way God would have us view our world and do our work. The Bible compares human life to farming. The lives of those who till the soil are dominated by a steady, cyclical stream of planting and harvesting – things that require a great quantity of care and time. In my sixty-three years of life, I know God has faithfully sown His good seed in me, and He patiently awaits a fruitful harvest. And I also know that sometimes I have rushed the process, or allowed the infestation of weeds, or tried to pick and eat the fruit before it has ripened. The same is true with seeds we plant in the lives of others. We must work painstakingly, but then wait patiently. When does the farmer sow the seed? Constantly? No, seasonally. There are times when we don't seem to hear from Heaven. Oh, we can always read our Bible to receive the implanted Word of God, but there are times when our lives feel more like a fallow field than cultivated rows brimming with life-bearing seed. Just remember, the seed is there, but like the pharmacist's time-released capsules, there is a need for waiting, for just the right time for germination. We plow, we plant, we fertilize, we pull weeds – but after working comes the waiting. We dare not depend on our own efforts but upon God's process, power, and perfect timing, to bring about the harvest. In His time...yes, He makes all thing beautiful – in His time.