What To Do While You Wait

Ministry, has a certain cycle to it often described in the Bible as sowing and reaping or planting and harvesting. Times when you are doing the hard work to get it started, set it up, make the plan, recruit the team, raise the finances, establish the partnerships - planting. And then there is the season where it all comes together and you start reaping the benefits. You see the plan become a reality, the leaders step up, the new people get involved, the relationships deepen, the lives changed - harvest.  

But in ministry, like in agriculture, there is always a season in between planting and harvesting. A season when you do some occasional watering but mostly wha you do is wait and while planting and harvesting are a ton of work for many of us the words of Tom Petty ring true - the waiting in the hardest part. So what do you do while you wait?

Pray: I don't mean this tritely. Paul said "somebody plants it and somebody else waters it but it's God who makes it grow" (1 Cor 3:7 AJV). Pray that God would make it grow, that he would send along the people and circumstances needed to water it, that He would bring it to maturity. If God doesn't give the increase you didn't plant, you just buried seeds. Pray.

Rest: Planting was hard work. Harvesting is going to be busy. While you are waiting in between - rest. Get some extra sleep. Engage in some of those fun activities that are life giving for you. Spend a little extra time with your family. You might just be disciplined about working sane hours or maybe you need to take a full on vacation. Insert lesson about sabbath here. Seriously, it's ok. You are going to need all your tanks full for what's coming. Rest.

Invest: Both planting and harvesting can take a lot out of you. In between is a great time to put something back in. Take that class. Read that book. Engage that mentor. Develop that new habit or break that old one. Take up that hobby you have been meaning to get into. And by all means lean hard into growing in your relationship with God. Harvest isn't the time to be sharpening your sickle. While you are waiting you can be doing things that will make you a stronger, healthier, smarter, more skilled "farmer." Invest in you. Plant some stuff in you that you can harvest later.

If you have a driven temperament you can easily feel like the waiting is a curse but it's really a blessing. It's how God keeps your ego in check and makes it clear that it's ultimately Him who makes things grow and it's how keeps you from killing yourself by running flat out all the time but don't just wait out the waiting. Use that gift of time to pray, rest, and invest.  Come harvest time you will be glad you did.