IT MIGHT TAKE A LITTLE WHILE
James 1:3-4
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
We were climbing hard and fast trying to keep up with a herd of elk. We had first heard the bulls bugling before daylight and started sneaking in on them… it was late Sept and the breeding was in full swing, keeping the bulls on their feet 24 hours a day. As we got going that morning I had felt something irritating inside my boot, but I figured it was nothing, so I kept moving. As the day wore on we continued our chase. Sometimes we would get a glimpse of a big bull and that pushed us to continue. We occasionally paused just long enough take a sip of water, otherwise we stayed on our feet and moving. All day I had the same irritant in my boot. I should have stopped, but it was too intense and season was almost over. Late in the afternoon my hunter harvested an amazing bull… the same one we started on nearly 12 hours earlier. As we sat to take photos I remembered the irritant I had tried to ignore all day. I removed my boot and looked for it. It was so small I couldn’t believe it had caused so much pains and damage. This little tiny pebble, about the size of a large grain of sand had worn through the skin and into the meat of the heal of my left foot. It was painful, but it was worth it.
Consider a grain of sand... There's not much to it, we see millions everyday and beaches have uncountable numbers. Sand can be an irritant that can cause major damage to your skin or to equipment if it gets where it's not supposed to be or can completely destroy things if blown from a sand blaster. Yet one tiny little grain of sand that causes the irritation in a boot can over time become a beautiful pearl if treated right.
A pink pearl was recently sold for a staggering $4.7 million dollars... all because a single grain of seemingly worthless sand was given time and a chance to reach its full potential.
Consider a beautiful diamond, it’s really no more than a piece of carbon, a lump of coal that survived tremendous amounts of heat and pressure. When it withstood that pressure it went from something of no value to something that has immense value. An ugly caterpillar with enough time and the right environment can become an amazingly beautiful butterfly. Transformed over time. No matter what you are dealing with today; terrible pressure, unbearable heat, uncomfortable irrigation or prolonged waiting... Realize that if you can hold up and withstand what trials you are facing, through these circumstances, God can make something beautiful of our lives.
His transforming power will renew us into what He sees in us... if we wait on Him. Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Trust that He has a plan to perfect you through patience and strength.
Allow Him to do it... Wait Him out.
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