Waiting Patiently
When I was little, my neighbor had rows full of strawberry plants in her garden. At the time, I knew that people grew vegetables, but the idea that you could grow something as delicious as strawberries in your own backyard fascinated me. I would have been only slightly more excited to find out that you could grow chocolate.
In my mind, the idea of growing strawberry plants has been filed away throughout the years. Now, many years later, I am in the process of creating my own garden including strawberries, of course. Over the winter, I researched different varieties of strawberries, decided on the type that I wanted, and found a place to order bare-root plants from.
Bare root plants are plants that are dug up while they are dormant (not growing) and stored until customers buy them in the spring. When the bare roots arrive, you soak the roots in water. Then, the plants are supposed to revive and begin growing again.
A package smaller than a paperback book arrived at my house containing a dozen small roots. If I hadn’t watched way too many Youtube videos about planting strawberries, I would have assumed the plants I received were dead.
Even though I knew the roots were supposed to look that way, I still worried that my new strawberries might already be dead or that, if they weren’t already dead, I might accidentally kill them myself. Each morning and every day after work, I’ve gone out to check on them, just in case. In between watering them and attempting to protect them from squirrels digging up the soil, I’ve been delighted by every leaf unfolding and every millimeter of growth.
I’ve lost a few of the plants. I expected this to happen, but I still felt sad over my small loss. The strawberry plants that are left are thriving though. An abundance of dark green leaves is beginning to spill over the edge of a few of the containers, and one or two of the plants have delicate little flowers.
This is where the problem comes in. You probably remember from science classes that when flowers are pollinated, they become fruit — in this case strawberries. But in order to allow strawberry plants to put more energy toward developing and becoming even more productive in the future, you are supposed to remove the first set of flowers from the plants.
Although I knew before I even bought my plants that I would have to remove the first blooms, now that the time has come, I don’t want to. I’ve spent so long planning for my strawberry plants and caring for them that I want to let these flowers continue to develop into strawberries. I don’t want to wait any longer. I want strawberries now, not months from now when my variety produces a second set of flowers. Even though I know patience will create a better harvest for the future, I feel reluctant to wait.
Noticing how impatient I am for something as small as strawberries makes me wonder how patient I am about the bigger things in life. The answer is not so much. My prayer journals (when I remember to use one consistently) are full of requests for things I think are taking too long to happen. The older ones say things like, Why haven’t I found a guy to spend my life with yet? The newer ones are concerned with changing my career and starting a family. There’s nothing wrong with repeatedly bringing our requests before God. In fact, we are supposed to turn to God.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” -Philippians 4:6 NIV
The thing is, I still remain anxious about the requests I bring before God. I don’t hand the things that I so earnestly desire over to Him. I say that I believe God has the best plan for my life, but then I see people who are getting what I want before I get it. The impatience flares up.
We know being patient and waiting for God’s timing will lead to blessings that we could never imagine, but we get impatient and make choices we know aren’t part of God’s plan. Similar to my current predicament with my strawberries, we want to take steps that lead to a momentary excitement but diminish the amount of good fruit that situation can produce in the future.
Even though I feel impatient about my strawberries, I am willing to sacrifice immediate gratification to wait for a better harvest later in the summer and in the future. In the same way, we have to make the decision to wait patiently for the plan that God has for the things we desire in our lives. Let’s continue bringing our requests to God, knowing He has good in store for us in the future.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth is an educator at heart. So far this has taken the form of a camp counselor, a museum assistant, and currently a middle school teacher. She loves to watch people grow and learn. You can read more of her writing at her blog Chronicles Of A Southern Belle.