Can't see the seedlings? Water anyway!

7:34 p.m. Today's project for the afternoon was to get refreshed and relax a bit. Of course, for Type A me, "refreshment" merely means doing a different kind of task!  I'd been working my Mary Kay business all day, both before and after our meeting. I quickly gobbled a baked chicken drumstick with a chunky salsa and turmeric sauce I'd served last night for dinner,  made a few more phone calls to customers and team members, and changed my clothes to a casual--but flattering--look, even at home, because after all, I was wearing my pin!

At 2 p.m., Steve arrived home from Care Connexxus. As a way to spend time together, as well as enjoy a lovely afternoon, I helped him out to the backyard so he could visit with the dog and clean the yard while I watered the garden. (And since I'd taught the organic gardening class at church last night, tending the garden seemed like a timely thing to do)!

In my chain link-secured sanctuary, I took up the watering can and excitedly watered the little rows of lettuce, spinach, carrot and cilantro seedlings. At last! The daytime sun had conquered the cold nights, warmed the soil, and given the babies the strength to break ground! As I went along my rows, I also watered in a straight, contiguous line next to the baby plants where there were no seedlings visible. Why? Because I know that new plants are going to appear in a week or two, due to staggered planting of seeds.

A gardener always has a plan, from selection of a plot that will be the sunniest, to soil preparation and amendment, laying out the rows of assorted vegetables by cool weather hardiness, and planting like seeds with like. We save space by planting carrots or onions with lettuce--one grows underground; the other spreads above ground. Then, as the spring warms, we plant other crops, like peas, beans, potatoes, tomatoes and melons, and lastly, corn.

In my business, I've achieved some important milestones and mid-sized goals, but am not seeing all that God had promised me will come to pass. My Mary Kay garden isn't showing me, yet, all of the women I'll be helping build their own business, but I'm not going to sit and just wish they'd magically appear! I'm going to connect with friends and acquaintances, ask for referrals, get fresh leads, hold fun events and cheer on my team members to do the same.

Having a vision of accomplishing a goal doesn't mean expecting that it will instantly materialize! There's good, prayerful, hard work to be done. Seeing the vision come to pass in Gods timing will be all the sweeter for the work involved to get there. And sometimes we must wait as God puts every aspect into place. Think of Isaiah's vision of new heavens and a new earth (65:17), yet to come to pass thousands of years later. But that vision will come to pass as Revelation 21:1 makes clear! 
Habakkuk 2:2-3 gives us the correct response to a vision of the future from God Himself:

Then the LORD answered me and said:

Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an
  appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it
  will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.

I've always noticed the apparent contradiction in the last three lines; "though it tarries, [or delays] wait for it," vs. "it will surely come, it will not tarry." The explanation which I believe the Lord has given me, is that in our finite human timing, the fulfillment of a vision seems to be delayed; but on God's infinite timeline that we cannot fathom, the vision will be fulfilled, even IS FULFILLED, right on time! If you and I haven't seen the accomplished vision yet, it's not because there's a problem with the vision which God has spoken to us--we just aren't ready to see it fulfilled!!

So keep watering your seeds whether you see them or not!