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Water the Soil
Elizabeth Kilby • July 8, 2022
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9
Friends,
I am on a bit of a “learn about gardening” kick this summer. It is the first summer in a long time where I don’t have a teeny baby or am very pregnant. I watched a video the other day and the woman was talking about soil where nothing was growing yet and she encouraged people to water the soil anyway because even if no plants are visible, things are active and working under the surface.
I found this so interesting – keep the soil active instead of letting it dry out EVEN IF there are no signs or expectations of growth? And then of course, I jumped to my life and application to ministry. How easy is it to give up or want to cut back on an investment in someone when it seems like there is no growth or nothing is working? (Please tell me I am not the only one!) Ministry and working with people is so exciting when progress is being made, when there are things to write about in newsletters, and the happy dance can be done regularly…but what about when it isn’t so exciting?
Newsletters, when I don’t have a specific story to share, are hard to write. Will people think I’m not doing anything? Does it sound like I’m trying to write a happy little devotional for people to read instead? Maybe. But the truth is, I may just be in a season of watering soil and not plants, and those seasons are ok too.
I have a little flip book of notecards on my desk. There are a lot of names written in it, one per card. I try, when I sit down at my desk to work, to shoot a message, phone call, or text to whoever’s name is on top. It is a quick, easy way to remember to check in with people – people who I WANT to keep in touch with but sometimes don’t because the urgent overtakes the important. This is my watering – sometimes of soil, sometimes of plants, but always of hearts who need connection, love, and the reminder someone is thinking of them.
In Christ,
Aaron and Elizabeth Kilby
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Harvest Youth Ministries (HYM) is an outreach aimed at young people; not a youth group. HYM is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) not-for-profit ministry. All donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
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