DON'T WORRY, IT' SLOW RELEASE

We moved into our brand new home on December 1.  Having never lived in a newly built house, I was not prepared for the missing elements such as towel racks, toilet paper hangers, some light fixtures and a fire place mantel, that were constantly used but never given much thought. Another huge undertaking was a lawn, but that would have to wait until spring.  Between our procrastination and the landscaper’s scheduling, the lawn was not seeded until July….bad, bad planning, just in time for the summer drought.  We spent a fortune in diligently watering the sprouting seed and finally by October, we had a sparse lawn to enjoy.

 This year, with the spring rains and a couple of "Weed n Feed” applications, the lawn began to show signs of becoming what I had envisioned.  My husband believes in the idea that “More is better” and decided to fertilize on the first day of every month.  It was great until we came to the hot summer days of July.  So fearful of burning up all the progress we had made, I begged him not to spread the July application.  All I could imagine were crispy brown blades of grass that would soon be trampled into the dry parched soil.  Steve assured me my fears were unwarranted because this was “Slow-Release” fertilizer and would lie dormant on the soil beneath the grass until activated by a water source.  A week passed and the grass became a little less green.  The heavy dew of the night quickly dried in the morning sun before the cracked soil below could benefit.  Another week passed, my fears mounted until one morning I woke to the sound of an abundance of rain.  The rain continued all day, slowing to a gentle shower until finally ending the next evening.  Within 2 or 3 days the brilliant green returned, new sprouts appeared and bare spots were filled; the fertilizer had been activated as promised replenishing the soil’s dissipated nutrients.

There are days I revel in the new growth my spirit experiences.  God is so near, the blessings are overflowing and I’m sure I will never go through leanness again. But “summer” comes, the reserves dwindle and the ground becomes dry and cracked.  The little bit of dew I experience along the way just doesn’t last long enough in the hot winds of life to give any relief.   Sometimes I have questions; I wonder if God really knows what He is doing with this application; will I lose what little progress I have made since the last drought?  His gentle voice reassures my thirsty soul, “Do not fear, it is a slow-release treatment.  The rains will come and activate it in due season.”  So, I wait; my thirst becomes unbearable as I pray, search His Word for answers and listen patiently to the silence, until one day I wake to the sound of an abundance of rain. 

It may come as a gentle shower or a raging storm; begin as a few sprinkles and grow to a deluge, but the rain will come.  God is faithful and as surely as He gives us everything we need to accomplish His will, He will activate it with the necessary rain, at just the right time. You will begin to grow, the bare spots will fill in and the slow-release nutrients will be just what you needed for your next adventure in God.