When I was very young, I was fascinated with flowers. We didn’t have many plants around our house at the time, mainly some holly bushes and some honeysuckle. One day, though, someone gave me some flower bulbs. I took them out into the front yard, and found a place near the holly bushes where I could plant them. I carefully placed them in their holes, patted down the dirt, and watered them.
The next day I went out to look for signs of life. I had seen pictures of plants placed alongside a glass wall, and knew that the green stem could be reaching for the surface even before I could see it. I decided to be patient a while longer.
Two days later I became worried. No flowers. No green. No bumps. No nothing. I decided more water would be good and so I watered the ground, but still, this was not what I expected.
A week later I was beyond worried. This was not the way that things were supposed to be. I started poking around the places where I had planted the bulbs looking for green. No joy. The next day, poking was not enough. I started digging around the bulbs. Sure enough, nothing had happened yet. The bulbs never did grow because I never would just leave them alone.
Which, believe it or not, connects with today’s text:
Psalm 126
When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
The people of Israel are in the “in-between” time. They have seen the dream, and it has given them joy, but they have yet to arrive at the dream. They have sown the seeds of hope, and watered the earth with their tears and suffering. Still, they have nothing to show for it. Not yet.
We are so often in the same place with the boys with whom we work. We can see a dream for their lives. We can almost taste it. We have yet to arrive at that dream, so we water it with our tears and the suffering that comes from walking alongside these young men. If we can resist the temptation of poking around too much, of expecting too much too soon, then we will have the opportunity for our reward: an amazing harvest. We can, with these young men, “come home with shouts of joy.”
Perhaps if we want to get to the harvest, it will do us good to remember the big picture. It is not the condition of the (flower)bed today that matters. What counts is the final outcome, the big dream for life itself. We need to patiently, prayerfully work toward that day and not undermine the harvest with our impatience. It might also be good to remember who is really doing the work: “The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”
Grace and peace,
Ron
