It's All Good!

But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. -- James 1:4

That pretty Hollyhock in the picture above has a story to tell today. This poor little plant has, through no fault of it's own, had to battle it's way to fruition. Literally. Because of me.

Rewind. A couple of years ago this plant came up right outside our door. It was just this ugly, big-leafed plant that appeared to me like a nice food group for grasshoppers judging by the holes in the leaves. Ugly. So I pulled it up and that was that. Same thing last year. Persistent little thing, anyway. When it came up again this year, I decided to let it grow and see what happened. Well, it grew and grew and, frankly, still just looked to me like a huge ugly weed of some sort. Then one day, lo and behold, there were tiny buds growing and, before I knew it this plant bloomed into a beautiful pink flower and said, "Geez, lady, it's about time... a little patience, puleeeze".

Concerning patience, The Message Bible states it this way: So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Here, here cried Hollyhock!

Had I just let Holly do her thing when it first sprouted, we would've enjoyed her blooms sooner. But, because of my lack of patience--I only had to wait 6 weeks--we missed out on two seasons of enjoying the beauty in this pink flower.

There are so many times I want to hurry things along, a.k.a. chop it down and move on, thinking I'm helping the situation when, in reality, I'm slowing up the process the Lord is trying to bring me through altogether. Patience takes...well...patience. No other way around it. But the end result--maturity, completeness, lacking nothing--is well worth the wait, dont you think?

Ok, Holly, lesson learned!

It's All BEAUTIFUL MONDAY Good!