Recently a flower was cut from our garden before blooming (not blaming any child) so I stuck it in a jar to see if it would open. At first nothing happened. Then, for a few weeks, roots began to grow longer and deeper. Finally, the flower grew and opened within a day or two.
Our lives are like this too. For us to bear good fruit, or anything useful or beautiful, it requires nourishment and deep roots. But roots take time, and you don’t see them growing because it’s all happening under the soil of our lives. Yet, if you have patience, and remain in a place of nourishment (Jesus called it abiding) – there will be fruit in abundance.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 ESV