Man oh man oh man! It's 4am and I can't sleep from the buzzing anticipation for J-Gen! I have to wake up soon to go to morning service too because I have to watch the store all day until I leave for J-Gen. I'm still pretty nervous (in a good way) to meet my group of girls and to feel the Spirit fill the huge (albeit freezing) auditorium and shake us to the core! As I was meditating on the Word, I remembered back to the training session a few weeks ago. I remember one of the admins telling us during their seminar that as a small group leader, we must not lead with the attitude that we're better than them. Rather than reaching our hand down towards them so that they can be pulled up, we ought to go down to their level and come up alongside them. That concept really humbled me especially because I'm somewhat of a "fixer" when problems arise. Even when a friend confides in me some of their on-going struggles, I listen with the intentions of "fixing" or "solving" their problem. I realize that that's not the appropriate course of action to take as a listening ear. I need to remind myself to take what Pastor Rich Kong taught us once.. about active listening. Rather than trying to solve the problem as someone is sharing their hearts, we try to go deeper to find the root of their feelings by asking them questions that elicit deeper responses. I love the analogy that Apostle Paul uses for us Christians when we are interacting and evangelizing to others:
"7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." 1Cor 3:7
Our job is to merely plant the seeds in people's hearts, so that God will make them grow and flourish. Many times we get frustrated in our efforts of trying to "bring people to Christ" and serving others because many times we see no direct results. But it's not because of our own works that bring people to change, it's all in God's power. He is the ultimate gardener. We are merely his laborers sowing seeds in His field for His glorious Kingdom.
A little over a month ago, Paul bought me some flower pots and seeds. We planted the seeds into the soil, and I've been watering them every so often. Sadly to say, one of the flower pots is growing at a really slow pace, but the other pot which has the sunflower seeds, have been growing fairly steadily. I honestly thought it would be a piece of cake to take care of the flowers.. I just have to water them every few days and soon I'd have this amazing batch of pretty flowers, right?! No..... But.. I guess they take some more work and time haha. Or maybe I failed... I don't know, but in the same way, people grow and change at different rates. Whether it may be in a couple years or a lifetime, how we serve others impact them and it's only up to God to make those seeds bloom.
