Who hasn’t felt at one time or another that their prayers haven’t been fruitful? That time spent in prayer seems to have been of little value?
Take a minute and think about how the trees, the bushes, and the grass look in winter. Nothing seems to be happening. If you didn’t know better, you would think that the leafless tree, the flowerless bush, and the brown grass were dead. However, during those long, cold winter months, life continues in the tree and the shrub and the grass.
We know the vegetation is strengthening, restoring, renewing—preparing for spring. We are confident that the tree will leaf, the bush will bloom, and the grass will once again become a carpet of green. Likewise, during what appear to be unfruitful periods of prayer, something is going on, the Christ is at work, even if human circumstances or a situation we’re praying about seems unchanged. When we pray, we should be just as confident and expectant of a good outcome as we are when we look outside in winter.
