Cultivating Patience

Cultivating Patience

Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 1 Corinthians 3:5-7

I was not born with a great supply of patience, and I’m not alone. Patience isn’t a virtue often seen in our world today. Nobody likes waiting in traffic or in grocery-store lines. People want what they want without delay. There are countless instant meals and a demand for rapid results from diets and self-help books. As an old saying goes, “Lord, give me patience, and I need it now!”

Since I have needed to grow in patience, gardening has given me some of the best lessons. Before planting bulbs in the fall, I prepare the soil, add manure to enrich the hard, red Oklahoma clay, and till the ground by hand to break up old roots. Then I dig holes to plant new bulbs of daffodils and tulips. Red, yellow, bright pink, the packages say. But it will be months after the hard work of planting fifty bulbs before I see the fruit of my labor. When I garden, seed, and weed, I do my part, but I can’t force the plants to grow. The bulbs and other flowers and shrubs in my garden will grow on nature’s timetable, not on mine.

And so in the watering and waiting period, I am reminded that patience learned in the garden can carry over to how we relate to our friends, our husbands, and our kids. Into their lives we plant the seeds of love, learning, good character, and faith. We water the seeds with our prayers and sometimes our tears. But it is God who brings the growth. We can’t force growth. Our part is to accept our dear ones as they are—works in progress. They are God’s field, not ours, and he is a faithful Gardener. As we wait with hope and grow in patience, we can trust that growth happens every day, even when we can’t see it. I have learned in my garden, as I think you will too, that the harvest will be worth the wait. —CHERI

Grant me patience, Lord, as I garden and as I nurture the relationships you have given me.

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches trust.

—GERTRUDE JEKYLL (1843–1932), BRITISH GARDEN DESIGNER, WRITER, AND ARTIST