Fully Ripe

Read Isaiah 40:27-31

No one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
-Isaiah 64:4 (NIV)

EVERY year it happens. I wait and keep checking my blackberry vines to see the white flowers turn from green berries to red and then finally to a delicious black.

I'm so impatient that I usually pick that first blackberry too soon. It's never sweet enough. Eventually I remember the art of just gently touching the darkest one. If fully ripe, it will fall into my hand.

My blackberry vines remind me that God knows the right time for everything that will happen in my life. Recently I sensed this when I felt frustrated about my job. I was tempted to complain or quit. I wanted relief because I felt powerless. But waiting for God's timing meant learning patience with unreasonable coworkers. Waiting meant believing God could stretch my paychecks. And as I waited, I saw God use these frustrating circumstances to bring forth fruit in my life.

Trying to force things to be a certain way is like pulling fruit off the vine prematurely. Instead, if we patiently persevere, we can become less consumed with our wanting and more focused on the sweet fruit that will come in God's time.

by Dolly Dickinson (North Carolina, USA)