I’ve been gardening since the Covid lockdown in 2020. It started as an educational experiment with my then 3-year-old and sort of snowballed from there. Gardening in Florida is not for the faint of heart. The seasons are completely flip-flopped, and not everything grows well in this humid subtropical state. One thing I’ve learned is that you can plant many seeds, but not all of them sprout, so sometimes you have to re-sow until they produce. Also, sometimes the plant sprouts, but gets ravaged by pests, so you never get to enjoy the fruit of your labors. However, with patience and surrender, the garden will eventually bear fruit.
Patience and surrender, when done right, will bear fruit in all areas of life.
A Lesson in Patience and Surrender
The patience I’ve found in gardening has also been my experience with writing my first book. The current working title is When Brokenness is Beautiful and it explores how Christ’s light shines on those who lean on him in their trials. I began writing this book about four and a half years ago in 2020. I worked feverishly for a month gathering materials I had already written, organizing it, rewriting it, and filling in the holes. In 2021, my unpublished manuscript won two awards–third place in the Florida Tapestry Awards and Honorable Mention for the Florida Christian Writers Conference (FCWC) Awards. I had five agents request to see my book proposal in the fall of 2021. And all five of them turned me down once they read the proposal. I was crushed.
In 2022 I put my book on the shelf, so to speak, and focused on writing for my blog and building my social media platforms. In 2023, I picked my book back up, rewrote a good portion of it, and wrote several new chapters. I submitted it into the same contests as two years prior and received first place in both! Surely now my book was ready to be published.
In the fall of 2023 I talked to a few agents. The first one never got back to me after sending him my proposal. The second one said she’d be interested in working with me if I wrote a different book. I got discouraged and didn’t even send my proposal to the third agent.
Early in 2024, the third agent reached out to me asking where my book proposal was. I took the kick in the pants and sent it to him. He responded that he wanted to work with me, so he sent me a contract. After talking to my husband, I came back with several questions about the contract. After answering my questions, I requested a small change thinking this would turn him off from working with me. I didn’t hear back for a month. I found out he was dealing with a family emergency, so I gave him a little more time before I finally followed up with an email. Another week went by and I still didn’t hear back. I became discouraged. Was my book ever going to get published?
I really wrestled with this question. I thought, maybe this isn’t the book God wants me to publish and remembered the other agent who was interested in my writing, just not When Brokenness is Beautiful. I had a serious talk with God and decided to surrender this book to him and start brainstorming this other book that this other agent was interested in. I had complete peace about the thought of my book not getting published and felt the courage to start the other one.
Three hours after this conversation with God, I got an email from the first agent with an edited contract attached. He had accepted my changes!
While this prayer was answered favorably, not all my prayers have been. For a really long time I have prayed for another child, whether biological or by adoption. I finally got to the point of surrendering this child to God and, while I still struggle sometimes, I am usually at peace with God’s answer that I will only have one child. God has not changed his answer to this prayer.
The Fruit of Patience
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23a
So often, I try to be patient in my own strength. In these times, I find myself discouraged and frustrated. God did not create us to be patient beings. If we could find patience in our own strength, we wouldn’t need God. Patience is a gift of the Spirit and comes when we surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit, inviting him in to work through us. This is why in his letter to the Galatians, Paul describes patience as a fruit of the Spirit.
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:28
Waiting for Christ’s return is the foundation of all patience. We can not see when this event will come about, but we have hope that it will happen because Scripture tells us it will. If we can have patience for Christ’s return, then we have the capacity to have patience for any other hope deferred. The fruit of patience does not come from sitting idly by, twiddling our thumbs and waiting. While I wait for my garden to grow, I tend to it, weeding and watering. While I have been waiting to get my book published, I have worked on improving the book, growing my influence on social media and the community, and continuing to hone my writing skills. God has also given us a job to do while we wait for Christ’s return–that is to tell others about him!
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
Whatever we do, we do it all for the sake of the gospel. If we keep this truth as the center of our life, then patience becomes easier to accept.
The Fruit of Surrender
Surrender doesn’t come easy. A product of a stretching of one’s faith, surrender brings peace to the troubled spirit. When we surrender to Christ, we tell him that we trust that his plan for our life is better than our plan. We repent, or turn away from, that which is not of God and accept the gift of grace given to us by Jesus Christ our Savior. If we take this attitude in everything we do, God will make his will clear in our lives.
Proverbs has a lot to say about our plans versus God’s plans:
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Psalm 19:21
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.
Proverbs 3:5-8
When we surrender our plans to God, acknowledging that he ultimately has control, whatever we’re trying to do becomes less hard and his Spirit can work in and through us to accomplish whatever task we’re trying to complete. I find that if I continue to push through and don’t have peace about what I’m doing, I just need to set that thing aside and trust God with the results. Maybe I’m straining towards a goal that God doesn’t have for me. When I surrender that goal to him, he usually makes it more clear if it’s something I should continue to pursue, like not pursuing having more children, or to continue pursuing publishing for my book.
When I surrender my garden to Jesus, I find I’m less stressed about what is or isn’t growing and can enjoy God’s creation coming to fruition before my eyes. When I surrender my writing to the Lord, I find people are that much more blessed by what I have to say. When I surrender my family to God, I find I’m able to be happy for others when they announce pregnancies or adoptions.
I’ve learned that in gardening, writing, and all of life patience and surrender is needed for the best fruit to be produced.
What is happening in your life where you need to exercise a little more patience? What are you trying to do on your own that you need to surrender to God?
Bethany Marinelli is an author and speaker out of Orlando, Florida. She also supports her husband, Andrew, in his auto repair business and homeschools her son, Arthur.
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