Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27L14, NRSV)
My sister Martie and I grew up in a home where we bought all our produce. Mama never had a garden, so when my sister told me she had put out tomato plants last summer, I was quite impressed.
Since she was a novice gardener, Martie researched exactly how far apart to space her tomato plants; what kind of fertilizer to use; how to keep away the destructive bugs, etc. Once they were planted, she tended to them daily, anxiously awaiting the juicy tomatoes to appear. But, day after day, her plants were tomato-less.
She just couldn’t figure it out because all of her neighbors who had also put out tomato plants were already enjoying the fruit of their labor. Martie kept wondering what she had done wrong that caused her tomato plants not to produce.
Frustrated, Martie gave in and went to the Saturday morning farmer’s market in our hometown in search of fresh tomatoes. While paying, Martie told the farmer her plight.
“I just don’t get it,” she said. “All of my neighbors who put out tomato plants the same time I did, all have tomatoes, but I still don’t have any.”
The farmer paused to think for a moment and then asked, “Well, what kind of tomatoes did you plant?”
“You mean, there are different kinds?” Martie asked.
He nodded, and began rattling off a list of various kinds of tomatoes.
“I think they were called Big Boy,” Martie remembered.
“Well there’s your problem,” the farmer explained. “Big Boy and Better Boy tomatoes have a 95-day gestation period whereas regular tomato plants produce fruit in as little as 70 days…you just have to wait a little longer for the Big Boys, but they are my favorites.”
With that new knowledge, Martie went home with renewed excitement over her upcoming Big Boy tomatoes, knowing they would be worth the wait.
Thinking about my sister’s gardening experience, I had to smile. She just didn’t know that Big Boy tomatoes took longer–neither did I–but once she discovered that information, she was no longer discouraged and upset about the lack of tomatoes on her plants. Instead, she was encouraged and excited to see them manifest a few weeks later.
Makes me wonder how many of us have “Big Boy” dreams in our hearts placed there by Almighty God, yet we just don’t realize that they are of the “Big Boy” variety so we are discouraged and worn out with the waiting process.
Instead of waiting with excitement and anticipation, we give up on our dreams and figure we must’ve done something wrong to stop them from coming to pass. Frustrated, we see other people’s dreams coming true, and we wonder why ours haven’t yet manifested.
Sound familiar?
Well, if that’s you today, don’t be upset. Don’t give up. Instead, be excited! Because if you’re still waiting on your dreams to burst forth, that simply means that your dreams are “Big Boys,” and they just take a little longer than regular dreams.
They have a longer gestation period, but when God brings them forth, they will be better than you ever imagined and so worth the wait!
The next time the devil tries to discourage you and tell you that your dreams are never coming to pass, say out loud: “My dreams are coming to pass in God’s perfect timing. They are Big Boy dreams, and they are worth the wait!”
