But Where's The Fruit?

This is that time of year....we've been working in the garden. It is planted. It is weeded. The peas are, (to put it in a slightly criminal sounding way) "Strung up". ;) The potato bugs are marching in columns to make war on our plants. We keep them at bay by squishing their offspring (eggs) and squishing them. I try to leave that to Benjamin though! :) We are moving on to less important things such as mulching with straw around our plants. And now we wait. I am in a spot where I feel like, "Hey! We've done all this work! Where is the fruit?" I watch with a disparaging eye the little cucumber plants and mentally count how many more weeks till I will get to do a pickle-making marathon again. (I canned 120 quarts last year and they are all gone! :) I am getting an itch to can something! Strawberries are almost ready in the fields. I can't wait! I meant to make this a general gardening post, but after writing my thoughts up there, I realized something: Isn't that how we sometimes feel in life? We see the Lord working on us. He pulls and prods and pokes, and stretches us, with gentle, but very firm hands. As He trims yet another branch off of our flesh we whimper, "We've done all this work- Now where's the fruit?" And the Lord must laugh at our foolishness. I can imagine Him trying not to laugh and saying, "My little one, don't you know that He who has begun a good work in you is able to complete it?" and I might squirm a bit and try not to mutter something about "Sure is taking awhile", but in my heart of hearts, just as I know that the garden will give us vegetables, I have faith that the work the Lord is doing in my life will come to fruition. James 1:2-4 says, " My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
Lacking nothing....not lacking wisdom, not lacking strength, not lacking fruit. I find it immensely interesting and comforting to read that patience comes before completeness. He may have us wait a bit to begin showing fruit of patience before He gives us the luscious, shimmery fruit we may desire. For some reason meekness and humility, or self-control seem to be more showy fruits than patience....at least, to those of us who feel sick and tired of waiting. Often times I am sick of waiting for more than fruit. I am waiting for the unveiling of the Lord's plan for an area of my life, or I am waiting for the big "Ta-da!" and a grandiose commission from God, when perhaps what He is trying to teach me is the lesson of patience. Never forget to look at your "trials" from all angles. You may be reaching for the apples in the tree when you are entirely disregarding the blueberries growing waist-high. Just remember that Jesus won't leave you hanging, and He is fully able to take all our meager strivings and ambitions, and turn them into a masterpiece. -Rachel