When as a parent you have young kids, it’s as if you’re in God’s waiting room. You’re anticipating the day when the “rosebuds” will mature and bloom. You nurture the plants, feed them, and care for them, but you can’t make your kids “bloom.”  But eventually God will–if you leave the timing to Him.

To parents of teens, let me say this: don’t get discouraged waiting for that budding son or daughter to mature. You can’t hurry the maturing process in your children any more than you can make a rose bloom by prying open the petals.  Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” If you take care of the plants, eventually the roses will bloom–in their own time.

The best lesson I know on God’s timing took place in the lives of childless Abraham and Sarah.  Look at God’s timeline in their lives:

In Genesis chapter 15 – God promises Abraham not only a son but numerous descendants.
In Genesis 16, the clock is ticking: Abraham is now 85 and Sarah is 76. Sarah embarks on a do-it-yourself project, giving her maid Hagar to Abraham as his wife, and Ishmael is born.
Genesis chapter 17 – 13 more years have gone by. Abraham is now 99 and Sarah is 90. Yet the Lord reassures Abraham: “You will be the father of many nations.”
Genesis 21 – Now Abraham is 100 and Sarah is 91. And at last, miracle of miracles, Isaac is born! Verse 1 tells us, “The Lord did to Sarah as He had promised.”

God honored His promise to Abraham and Sarah when in the natural it was impossible. Are you waiting for God to answer your prayer? Take a lesson from the rose. In God’s time it will bloom!