Dormant… not dead

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1

For the last several months, I’ve been preparing for my first 5K. I downloaded this free running app and try to find time 2 – 3 days a week to pound the pavement. The best part about the run is the ability to really tune out my everyday issues and just listen. God speaks the loudest when we are the quietest. On one particular day, I was frustrated. Only God knew how tired I truly was. But as I began to lament to him, I realized that my lament was unlike times past. Before it was woeful and desperate (“God please fix this issue”). That was because it consumed my thoughts. But this time, it wasn’t the case. In fact, my prayer was one of concern because this problem had consumed very little of my thoughts. What does this mean? I thought. Is the issue dead? hopeless? Will I ever get the expected outcome?

As I quickened my step from a walk to a light jog, something told me to look at the yards of my neighbors. It was winter in Texas, but approaching spring. The lawns were all a light brown. That grass reminded me of a conversation from years ago with a church member. At the time, my family and I lived in Florida. This particular church member shared in jest how she had her husband dig up and replace all of the grass in their front lawn once. “I thought it was all dead,” she said of her grass that was going through its typical seasonal changes. My mother, in jest but sincerity mentioned to me that the grass wasn’t dead, it was dormant. Dormant? I thought as I jogged through the neighborhood. Perhaps that was true of my situation.

What about you? Maybe there is something in your life – your career, a relationship, a passion or special interest that seems like its dead. You’ve done all of the work, gotten superb reviews but still don’t see yourself climbing the ladder of success. You’ve poured your time in and your heart out to that special someone with nothing in return. Or maybe you’ve tried but for the life of you can’t seem to figure out how to turn your passion into something practical, beyond a hobby or what others would call a pipe dream. “It’s dead!” you’ve said or thought to that hope or dream.

Perhaps. But perhaps it is dormant waiting for the right season to grow. Everything has a season and for everything, there is a time (Eccles. 3:1). If God has promised you something but it hasn’t happened yet wait, your season hasn’t come.

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