The perfect seeding moment

For a long time, I was convinced the most effective opportunity I might have with a work colleague or a non-christian friend was to be alert each day, looking for and praying for a “bridge moment,” that moment that just led beautifully or glided naturally into a seeding moment, almost a back-door method if you like.

I did not want to foist my faith onto anyone. It had to be comfortable for everyone, witnesser and witnessee (is there such a word?) alike. The conversation could continue to be built over time.

The trouble is in my desperation for the perfect opportunity I so often missed it. Sometimes, the subtlety of the bridge moment just wasn’t there. Other times, I was waiting for perfect conditions that never came. “Why do those other two people have to always be in the lunchroom when Jack’s there? Next time Jack and I are here alone, I want to pick up with him on what I heard him say the other day…” Before I knew it, Jack might tender his notice and the “perfect moment” never arrive.

A new song

I was reading in Ecclesiasties 11:4 when suddenly this jumped out at me: “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.” I sat up and took notice, as I heard the Spirit say, “Wayne, there won’t ever be perfect weather conditions for what you’re wanting to do, You just have to go ahead and do it.” Verse 6 was further enlightenment: “In the morning sow your seed and in the evening do not withhold your hand.”

The Lord took me to His words in John 4:35: “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” And here was I holding back for my more opportune moment, waiting for something better to arrive. Jesus is saying, “already white!” God has already been at work. There have been links before me. He has already prepared souls he wants me to meet. Rahab was a soul ready and waiting.

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
John 4:35

I saw my witness by word and life was to be a “living” thing from dawn to dusk. I was taken back to the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), perhaps one of Jesus’ most significant stories for us as believers. The task of the sower is simply to sow, not to be guardedly looking out to avoid the stony ground. There is no such thing as perfect weather conditions, perfect well-tilled ground every time we walk out the door. We just have to sow.

Some times this means we fumble in our efforts. Some times the bridge moment doesn’t come, though I still pray for it and God in His grace regularly gives it. Some times, I pluck up my courage and am very direct: “Tell me, do you have a personal faith?” God honours all! Any parent rejoices in their baby’s first steps. I am not the great “I AM” but by the grace of God, I am what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10).

And I trust that first impression. Since 1 Corinthians 6 is true of us, we know the Holy Spirit fills the heart. We can trust Him to speak to us, to prompt us. We don’t have to second-guess God’s Spirit. A couple of things made me question myself recently. The tract I first reached for had an easter focus, not a Christmas one. I hear the Spirit’s whisper, “just trust.”

I have now adopted the spirit of Jonathon to his armourbearer in 1 Samuel 14, or Nehemiah (1:11):

• the spirit of moving forward
• the spirit of “maybe”
• maybe the Lord will grant success today.

I have become a little more spontaneous, a little more available, a little more attentive, a little more fumbling, a little more courageous.