
About 30 years ago I heard a country preacher who built a super large church talk about keeping on when it seemed as though nothing was really happening. He talked about what he called "lay by time" the time when after a hoped for crop is planted, there are no visible signs that the crop is growing. Life is often like this.
Jacques Barzun said it this way:
"In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years."
Most people who achieve anything go through a lay by time. Preachers are not exempt. The lay by time is when serious mistakes are often made. Resorting to the latest fad or giving up in discouragement, often masked as some manner of a fall is not the way to deal with lay by time.
Take the time to re-evaluate the known essentials of your calling. Get your life and business/church/ministry realigned with these principles. Keep doing as commanded. The harvest will come. There is no point in harvesting a large crop of weeds and kidding yourself.
I certainly love to see results NOW. Often it will take a while to see true results when dealing with people is your calling. One of my favorite teachers did not live to see what his faithful teaching brought about in my life.
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded..
Copyright © 2012 Larry Lilly