James 5:7-12

James 5:7-12 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Many of us are far removed from the agrarian lifestyle.  My dad started life on the family farm in Kansas, and I've been there a few times, but I can't say that my cubicle life bears any resemblance to farming.  Farming takes a different mindset, a different discipline.  To farm, you take seed, a valuable yet small commodity, bury it in the ground, and trust.
  Farming is a lifestyle of waiting.  It's active waiting, but it's still waiting.  One waits for the seed to sprout, and then for the sprout to grow and for crops to mature.  It's waiting for the harvest, all the while monitoring the threats, nourishing the plants, focusing on the soil, on all aspects that impact the life of the plant. 
  The same is true of our faith.  It depends on the work of God, and yet we aren't to passively wait.  We actively receive, actively grow and live and nourish.  We wait upon God, and yet we are called to live as disciples, figuring out the faithful life as it grows within us, leading us forward.  Often the path is clear.  Other times, it's less clear, and we're waiting for light, for guidance. 
  All the while, we trust.  We trust in God who raised Jesus from the dead, who promises us the same, that when we are planted in the soil, we, too, will grow into something new.