Hidden Growth
By Terri Farmer, Grants Coordinator
Early spring can be a little deceptive. The air starts to warm, the days grow longer, but the ground still looks mostly the same. Trees are bare. Gardens are unturned. It can seem like nothing much is happening.
But anyone who has planted a garden knows that this is often when the most important work is taking place. Beneath the soil, seeds are beginning to split open. Roots are slowly stretching deeper into the ground. Growth is already underway, even if we can’t see it yet.
Our spiritual lives can feel this way too. Seasons of struggle, waiting, or uncertainty can make it seem like we’re stuck or not moving forward. We might wonder if anything is really changing.
Yet scripture reminds us that God often works in these very seasons. In Romans 5, Paul writes that suffering produces endurance, endurance shapes character, and character leads to hope. In other words, God can use even the hard seasons to form something good in us.
In the Wesleyan tradition, we talk about God’s grace always being at work, gently shaping us over time. Sometimes that shaping happens through joy and celebration. Other times, it happens quietly through the challenges we walk through.
Spring reminds us that growth is rarely instant. Seeds must first break open in the darkness of the soil before anything green appears above the ground. In the same way, God is often doing deep work in us long before we can see the fruit of it.
So, if you find yourself in a difficult or slow season, take heart. What feels like stillness may actually be preparation. God may be growing something in you that will bear fruit in time.
PRAYER
God who works in the dark spaces and the light, help us trust that the seeds that have been planted in our lives are being nurtured in the rich soil of your love. Prepare us to be the bearers of you fruit of faith and let us plant seeds in the lives of others so that they will know you.
Amen
