Fruit in Season

I love the verse in Psalm 1 where David likens the man who lives in God's word to a tree bringing forth fruit. Who, as a growing Christian, does not desire to bring forth fruit in his or her life? Lately it seems God is working on my heart regarding the last three words of that verse: "in its season."

If you've read any previous posts on my blog (or know me personally), you may recall we just finished remodeling our basement, a project which took three years and then some. A few months ago, I decided to tackle my kitchen. Good thing I'm not in project management for a living: my plan allowed a month to paint and a weekend to lay the floor and install new light fixtures. But here I am, more than two months later, uh - shall we say - behind schedule!

I'm okay with this though. I really believe God had a patience lesson in mind for me when we began that gameroom project. So although I'm anxious to finish the kitchen, I'm not nearly as uptight or frustrated as I was with the gameroom.

I think I'm beginning to understand that God's sense of timing is so different from mine. I can't imagine God working on deadlines! If that were the case, He'd have abandoned this project called "Dianne's life" long ago. I think we try to pigeonhole God into our time frame. And that's the beauty of ripe fruit. No one enjoys fruit picked prematurely, and you can't force fruit to ripen (okay, I'm sure there's a way to trick it into ripening, but it still has to ripen on its own).

So yes, I desire to live a fruitful life. But I'm learning the fruit is God's work, not mine. And it will be best in His time. My job, really, is just to get out of the way and let Him work.