"There is the tension between the time it takes to love people and the need for expediency. There is the tension between the need for measurable goals and the difficulty of measuring that which is ultimately immeasurable by anyone but God himself."
~Ruth Haley Barton, "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership"
As I watch our little pepper seedlings grow, I've been thinking a lot about faithfulness and fruitfulness. The emails I've been getting from Aaron in the village chronicle very intense days as he seeks to maximize his short trip. We both know that our responsibility is to faithfulness and that God will provide the fruitfulness on His own timetable. Sometimes I get discouraged when I look at the years we've spent pouring into the translation project and the apparent lack of any results.
But then I remember Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians as he kicks off his letter with this encouragement: "We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." That exhortation brims over with faithfulness, not fruitfulness. And the faithfulness finds its roots in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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