By Mark Azzara
Dear Friend,
There’s a big difference between hearing and doing. (Just ask any pastor how perfectly his listeners heed his sermons.) Studies have shown you must hear something seven times before the message really sinks in. My church’s director of religious education recently told me, “We think of what we’re doing as planting seeds.” She doesn’t expect the children to “get” the real depth of what they are being taught – not right now, not today. But, someday, with the gentle reinforcement of the Spirit …
No matter how earnestly we try to share what we know with others there is little chance that our audiences will grasp what we’re saying right now, today, much less actually put it into practice. It’s an unpleasant lesson I’ve learned occasionally via feedback to stories I’ve written. That’s when we should remember how long it took us to learn and apply those deep truths. By all means we must pray for that divine fruit to become evident in the lives of others, but we should also spend a few minutes asking God to reveal the seeds within us that still haven’t borne fruit.
All God’s blessings – Mark
