Fallow Ground

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."  --John 12:24-25

Hidden within each small, dead-looking kernel of wheat is the potential for new life, for growth and regeneration. But the seed must fall to the ground and rest in darkness before death can yield life, growth, and, eventually, fruit.

I have so often chafed at waiting and grown weary under burdens. But out of the darkness, God has brought forth treasure, "riches stored in secret places"  (Isaiah 45:3). For fallow ground is not infertile.  It's just resting, regenerating, waiting for a new crop.

Lord, bend our will to yours as you call us to wait, to suffer, to die that we might live, grow, and bear sweet fruit.