Not so fast, my friend ...

We live in a microwave society. We expect everything to happen so quickly. A microwave is perfect for cooking food in an instant. But, there are times when the speed of the cooking actually hinders the taste of the food.

Just to mix my metaphors, the Christian life is similar to growing vegetables. Having lived in SC for four years, I learned a miniscule amount about growing vegetables. We planted corn, tomatoes, grean beans, peas, watermelon, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins and an occasional peanut. The process was somewhat painstaking. I had to till the soil, plow furrows, plant seeds, till the soil again, water, and pull weeds, all in the hopes that within the first month I might see an inch high green shoot protruding from the earth. There was a lot of work that took place, a lot of sweat equity poured into the soil, with great expectation of a harvest.

You can't speed up the process of growing vegetables. If you do, the taste is horrible. In the same way, you can't speed up the process of maturity in the Christian life. It takes time and a lot of work. You till the soil of your heart, provide the right fertilizer, water, etc., pull the weeds and then wait, work some more, and hope God provides the growth. If you try to speed up growth, it's all fake, pseudo growth.

All of that to say, it seems to me that we ought to learn to put in the work to grow, till the soil of our hearts, and then trust that God is doing the work He desires to do in order to accomplish in us the growth He desires. It's not until later that the growth we desire to see will actually be seen by those who know us best. Persevere in your working and yet trust that God is working in you. Get rid of the microwave and hop in the crock pot.