Crock-Pot spirituality

TODAY'S READING: James 5:7-12
I confess that I am an impatient person. If you don't believe me, ride in a car I am driving during rush hour. I struggle at times with waiting. And God continues to challenge me in that area.
That is the message of what James writes. And I love his illustration of the farmer. I worked on a farm for two summers when I was fourteen and fifteen years old. And I remember going out at 5:00am to pick sweet corn. You could barely see what you were doing, but you had to be careful.
I wanted to pick every ear of corn I saw, but I had to patient because not every ear was ready. Some still needed to finish gorwing on the stalk. And I could tell by looking at and feeling the ear if it was ready.
And I remember one particular summer when it was dry. The farmer we worked for was concerned because of the lack of rain. But eventually some rain came and the crop grew. But that year the crop was a little later than normal. The farmer couldn't harvest on his terms. He had to wait until the crops were ready.
We are so used to drive-thru's that we want everything now. We are an impatient people. And it creates unhealthy burdens.
I know my generation is guilty of this. Many of our parents saved and struggled for years before they could afford that dream house in their later years. We want a better house when we start our careers.
We push our children to perform like adults in sports, music, and many other area. We want them to become at ten what we could not achieve as adults.
In our hurriedness we often remove much of the joy from life and it isn't quite as good.
As a final example, let me talk about microwaves. I like the microwave. It's fast. It's easy. I can often cook a whole meal in mere minutes. But have you ever noticed those meals never taste quite as good?
On the other hand, take the Crock-Pot. It cooks slowly. It undergoes a prolonged period of heating and simmering. The flavor has time to work through the meat, vegetables, and other ingredients.
Maybe that is why we so often lack a deep relationship with God. We want a mircowave God where we press a few buttons and expect instant satisfaction and relief. But I believe God wants life to be more like a Crock-Pot.
As we struggle through difficult times we are forced to be patient and wait for the "seasoning" that only comes with time. Often God can only work when we wait on Him. He is not our prayer drive-thru.God does not say, "Would you like extra blessing with that? Have a nice day."
Will He sometimes answer prayers quickly? Yes. But more often than not we miss the blessing because we want to pick the crop before it's ready.
The next time you see your life in the rushed, microwave world and it doesn't taste as good as you think it should, remember that God often works on Crock-Pot time.

shine!
Jason