Don't be so quick to bloom

There's a redbud tree in my neighborhood that has decided it should bloom in January. I see this beautiful tree and I say to it "NO! Don't bloom yet! Its too early!" We've had an unseasonably warm December which tricked this poor redbud. I'm not a horticulturalist so I don't know what will happen to it. Will its blooms be blown for the whole year? Will it leaf out in the middle of winter? Will its leaves all freeze and the tree die?

This is a reminder to me to be patient with God

(Its going to be a bit before I really get back to the tree, hold on... I promise we'll get back there)
 I'm not a "look before I leap" kind of person, I'm a "leap and just figure I'll figure it out and God will take care of me" kind of person. So when I get an idea to do something I want to jump right in.
But God's plans typically take WAY longer than mine. God definitely wants acts of faith, He likes a show that you are ready and faithful enough to jump. God absolutely sends the willing. You know the phrase "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called." Often times though the plan is nebulous and the journey is long.
Look at Abraham "Go that way and I will make you the father of nations." Or Moses "Take my people to the Promised Land." Forty years later....God gave these men a vision but not a timeline. He gave them a heading but not a Triptick (that's a detailed map for those of you young folks.)

How does this pertain to me?

I feel like God has given me a vision. He has called me to move to the town where I teach, lets call it Smallville, and build a Christ following community. He has called me to create disciples of my students. I felt this call two and a half years ago and so I put my house on the market. It didn't sell. I was obedient and I figured this awesome miracle would happen like my house would sell in a week. It was on the market for six months. So I figured I must have heard wrong.
But the seed had been planted. I started dreaming about how I would one day move toSmallville and have kids over to my house and we could talk about Jesus. I envision Thursday nights having "Open House" where I have meals and teenagers can come and we can have a community like I figured the early disciples had. I see them stopping by and sitting on my porch when then need someone to talk to.
I figured I needed to be patient. God's timing is not my timing. I needed training anyway. I had the ambition but not the wisdom. I've learned a LOT over the last year.
I figured I was ready. I had it "all figured out."
THEN, God presented me with a house to move in to so I put my house on the market again. I thought "Ah ha! This is it. NOW God is ready for me to move. Let's go!" Once again I figured it would sell right away and be this amazing story. But its been on the market for two months and I'm getting antsy. I want to go NOW! Come ON God, lets do this!!

And FINALLY, back to the analogy

This (finally) brings me back to the redbud tree. As I walk to the grocery store I pass this poor tree. Maybe being antsy is like this redbud blooming too early. What happens if I bloom to early? If I go but am not ready I could fail miserably and get so discouraged that fizzle out. Maybe, even worse, I go and, in my enthusiasm, screw it up and push people away from God. (My worst fear). Its great to be willing to go at a second's notice but if we're not ready it could be disastrous. God gives us vision so we have hope but then we begin the (sometimes long) preparation. We need to learn who we are and who God is. We need to be equipped for whatever plan He has for us.
Lets look at Joseph (the one with the pretty coat, not Jesus' Step Dad), if he had become the leader of his brothers BEFORE he was a slave and a prisoner he wouldn't have saved all those lives. His attitude towards his brothers would not have brought them all closer but instead made them all hate him. I love that story but if it had just been "There once was a favored son named Joseph who had a dream that he would rule over his brothers and so his Dad gave him all his property and he did." Who wants to read that story? What does that teach us about God?
God is into developing people. He isn't like a genie who just waves a magic wand and "poof" you're disciple making machine. He shows us how to be disciples and THEN how to replicate. We can't bloom until we have roots. We can't produce fruit unless our trunk is strong enough to support the fruit.

Another tree analogy

There's a pear tree, ironically, right across the street from the redbud. This poor pear tree made so many pears last year that almost all the branches broke with the weight of it. Its a sad looking tree. If I'm too quick to produce fruit it could break me. If I'm not strong enough when the enemy gets mad and comes after me (and he will if I start to make a difference) he'll crush me.

And so I'll wait for Spring. I'll keep praying for guidance. I'll keep praying for my house. I'll keep looking for opportunities to grow my roots, not just my fruit.