Perfect weather? Talk about your oxymoron!
We used to have a saying when I lived in Seattle, “If you don’t like the weather just wait five minutes, it is sure to change.”
Perhaps that is the idea the writer of Ecclesiastes is trying to get across to us.
Those who wait for perfect weather will never plant seeds; those who look at every cloud will never harvest crops. Ecclesiastes 11:4 NCV
Life is in constant motion. Creation does not stand still for anyone!
If you are trying to control your life waiting for all things (and people?) to cheer you on?
You won’t get anything done.
Every gardener knows…
Planting is always risky! You check your weather forecasts; keep an eye on the sky, but at some point you must make a decision, and then act on it.
Sometimes you’re right.
In fact, most times you will be right.
But, there will be those years… especially up here in the spring, when you are in the mountains of Northern California?
Old Mother Nature will throw you a curve ball, and a sudden and unexpected freeze will finish off all seeds or seedlings!
Then, all you can do is–start over.
Do-overs and new beginnings
I like the way The Voice Version of the Bible phrases today’s verse:
Those who watch and wait for favorable winds never plant, and those who watch and fret over every cloud never harvest. Ecc. 11:4 The Voice
We know from our own experience, at some point in life, we all have to begin again.
- We pray asking for wisdom.
- We make a decision or a choice.
- We step out in faith.
- But, things don’t work out.
At least, they don’t work out the way we thought they were supposed to!
Life hands us a “do-over”
In my sixty-eight years I have had plenty of these!
And, right here, is where my next decisions were so critical.
(At least I believe they were.)
So, remembering my own mistakes, and do-overs–I am going to tenderly offer a few suggestions:
- First, I had to acknowledge my mistake. What else could I do?
- Next, I acknowledged my own humanity.
- None of us gets it perfect every time, do we?
- Then, I had to forgive myself (and others) dust myself off, take stock of my situation, and go back to the drawing board.
It’s was a do-over.
We all get them.
We all take wrong turns sometimes.
We’re only human after all, but we can’t let our own fallibility, (or someone else’s) keep us from sowing more seeds for our kingdom purpose!
If we refuse the risks? We will never reap a harvest.
All your dark clouds notwithstanding?
- Perhaps it’s time to dry your eyes.
- Lift those eyes, and your broken heart to heaven.
- Give and receive God’s forgiveness, and grace…
God has already declared you, “NOT GUILTY!”
“Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be his? God himself is the judge who has issued his final verdict over them—“Not guilty!” – Romans 8:33
Is God saying…
It’s time to plant again.
Dearest heart, there is a “HARVEST” out there, with your name on it.
Grace is God’s GIFT from start to finish.
He has chosen you; called you; to reap with Him in His harvest.
Let’s join Him in the good work He has gotten ready for us to do.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. Ephesians 2: 7-10 The Message
Women With Destiny 