When we moved into this house back in April, one of the many things I was looking forward to was gardening. The yard in our current house is a manageable size, and since almost no landscaping has been done, it is, to me, like a blank artist’s pallet, waiting to be created.

Of course, landscaping is incredibly expensive, but even this first year we’ve managed to do a few things, keeping the cost down by picking up freebies and buying used things off of an internet buy/sell forum. We’ve even managed to plant some cedar trees and perennials without breaking the wallet.

As I was laying out some bricks yesterday that someone had been giving away, I couldn’t help imagining how this new bed would look filled with beautiful irises. Then I looked over at the bed we had created earlier in the season, and I couldn’t help but imagine it as filled with tall, mature cedars, with large, beautiful perennials underneath. But then, reality struck: The cedars were 2 feet tall, and the frost had already gotten the perennials… And as for the bed I was creating, yes, I had ordered the iris bulbs, but I couldn’t expect even a single flower until spring… As I glanced around the rest of the yard, I was overwhelmed with the amount of blank spaces still on my artist’s pallet… Why couldn’t my yard look beautiful… NOW!

Isn’t this the way it is in life? We are programmed to want instant gratification of our desires. As people of faith, when we have a problem, we cry out to God; but oh, the disappointment when His answers seem non-existent/ I still remember how unhappy I was, for example, that our house hadn’t sold—after it had been on the market last year for only two weeks! Or maybe our desire isn’t selfish at all. Maybe we are claiming the promise that God will deliver us from addiction/depression/anxiety/anger/selfishness/________(you fill in the blank)! But after praying and seeking God, we continue to be plagued with the same!

Yet if I close my eyes, I can imagine how my new iris bed will in a few years when the bulbs have multiplied. And I can imagine my cedar trees, tall and full. And I can imagine the other landscaping work done. That is what keeps me going in the garden, the realization that it will someday be something beautiful.

Is that what can keep me going as well when what I am praying about doesn’t seem to be materializing?

You see, I have faith that my plants will grow and be beautiful. I have faith that I will find my landscaping needs over the years for affordable prices. I have faith that one day my yard will look nice.

Do I also have faith that God will make everything beautiful in my life as well? Can I continue to look to Him, to draw nearer to Him, to learn to depend upon Him and Him alone while I am waiting? Do I trust that God keeps His promises, and that He truly DOES make everything beautiful…in HIS time?

The thing is, I know that it wouldn’t be good for those bulbs to grow right away, what with winter coming on and all. They will sprout — when the time is right!

Do I have faith that when it seems God isn’t answering my prayers, it’s also for a very good reason? Do I have faith that my miracles will arrive…when the time is right?

It is certainly food for thought, and as I look out at my bare beds, I will try to remember that just like I know the bulbs will sprout in the spring, I can also be sure that God’s miracles will arrive — at just the right time!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Eccl. 3:11a NIV)

In His love,
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Illustrator/The Nugget with Answers2Prayer Ministries.