The Patience of God on Display

        While feeding the cats one evening this week, I saw God’s patience illustrated in His creation. Dangling precariously from the underside of a shelf hung an exoskeleton of a cicada, For the first time in my life, I observed the laborious way God allowed the adult green cicada to emerge. As I watered tomato plants, checked on cats, and ran the weed eater some, I periodically checked the status of the emergence of the adult green cicada from its nymph case or exoskeleton. What a miracle in ultra slow motion!

First glimpse of the exoskeleton.

        

        The late-planted tomatoes are growing imperceptibly with an occasion blossom appearing. Not just the tomatoes or the emergence of the green cicada, but most progression in God’s creation moves at an unhurried pace rarely seen in our 21st century. 
        Then one morning, I finished edging with the weed eater after mowing the previous evening. The warm morning with its slightly cool breeze made the task almost pleasant. At one point, I had to go old school and get a spade to better edge the sidewalk.

The cicada emerges more.

        As I used the spade to move the dirt and then turned on the power blower, I thought of Grandma Gladys Rainey Smith. She loved the yard work, the expansive (at least for me) flower beds, and rejoiced when every aspect exuded touring a botanical garden. However, she had no power tools – just a hoe, spade, and shears leading to painstakingly slow, hard work.   

First spotting of wings.

        Jesus called God the vinedresser. God, in Jesus’s illustration, and Grandma both served as caregivers of plants. Pruning required cutting away anything endangering the growth or productivity of the plant. In the same way, Grandma’s edging, required meticulous care to remove the culprits of weeds, grass, harmful pests, or anything that impugned her vision for the flower beds
        Jesus called His followers branches on His vine. John 15:2 stated Every branch that bears fruit He prunes. Jesus articulated to His disciples that productive branches can expect pruning. Pruning removed the unproductive aspects of the plant.
        In the lives of the children of God, pruning is a slow and challenging process, almost always painful, as fruitless elements of our lives are removed. Yet it remains extremely important since John recorded in John 15:8, By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. Yielding to His pruning will result in fruitfulness that glorifies Him.

Final photo of nine taken.

        

        Whether observing life cycles in God’s creation or equating our plant or garden care to the Father’s pruning of His “branches,” we see He demands patient waiting. This waiting is so evident in our prayers that we often pray for many years and appear to receive no answers, especially when petitioning Him for the salvation of a dear loved one. Peter expresses articulately this aspect of God’s character in II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

         May we take time to see the patience of God on display in His creation every day. His followers obey and yield patiently to His careful pruning of unproductive aspects of our lives. Our prayer attitude of trusting His answer to come exemplifies our unrelenting trust in Him and His willingness to respond - no matter how long the wait.