For the last year or so, I’ve been trying to get in better shape. I typically do a good bit of cardio, but that’s it. But about four months ago, I thought I wanted to add some weight lifting to the mix. Nothing crazy, just some upper body and core routines to try to get a little definition to a body that has only been defined by the words “round”, “pear”, and “soft.” My struggle with lifting weights is that I always want immediate results. You know what I mean? You finish a hard workout, walk straight to the mirror, and flex. You want to see something different like stronger arms and tighter abs. Of course, your body doesn’t change overnight. The work is real, but the results are still days or weeks away. That is just how it works.
I have spent a lot of years wishing it worked the other way. I have prayed for change and expected it by the next day. I have tried to be kinder, more patient, more disciplined, and then felt discouraged and defeated when it seemed nothing was changing. It is easy to look at the same reflection in the mirror and decide the effort must not be working. Or that I am doing the wrong things. Or that God simply is not paying attention to me right now.
But I remember the truth of God’s Word. Paul says in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” The promise is not that the harvest comes on our schedule, but that the harvest comes if we keep going. Real growth almost always happens where you can’t see it first. It starts beneath the surface. I’ve reminded myself often over the past four months that strength builds in the quiet places long before it shows in the mirror. The same is true in a life. The small decisions you make when no one is watching will produce results at the right time. So offer the apology you need to make. Keep being faithful to show up in your quiet time with the Lord even when it feels empty. Make the decision to forgive even if you are still hurting. Keep praying for someone who is lost even if they seem completely uninterested in the Gospel. Remember, you rarely plant and see the fruit on the same day. It may take weeks or months or even years.
I think about Joseph. As a young man he received dreams of a future that looked bright, but then came the pit, the years of slavery, the false accusation, and the long stretch in prison. In every hard place he kept doing what was right, even when no one seemed to notice or care. He served faithfully in Potiphar’s house. He managed the prison with quiet integrity. Only after more than a decade of waiting did the fruit finally appear, when God raised him up to save his family and an entire nation from famine. But Joseph kept showing up and tending the ground God had given him.
There is a kind of faith that is willing to wait for the proper time and does not demand a harvest on its own schedule. It trusts that God is writing a story we sometimes cannot see. Some days the mirror looks unchanged. Some seasons feel long and quiet and lonely. Yet trust that something is still happening beneath the surface. The work is not wasted just because you cannot see it yet. Don’t give up. Keep training. Keep trusting. One day you will look up and realize God has been working all along. And when the fruit finally comes, it will taste even sweeter for the waiting.
