One of my disciplers is Ate Ruby. She is my first small group leader and the one who shared One2One with me. I remember attending her small group before in Kalayaan Dorm in UP Diliman. I was in first year college then.Being the only Miriam College student in that group, I am grateful that she chose to keep me and mentor me still. Knowing that someone didn't give up on me, took time and gave so much effort just so I would have a relationship with Jesus keeps me encouraged to do the same.
Just the other day, I asked her what encourages her to make disciples and to mentor people and why despite all the hardships, she still chooses to continue. She is so generous enough to give us some encouraging words. Read on and enjoy. :)
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What happens when after long days, months and years of labors and hard work, not even a single sprout appeared? After all the love has been given, not a bit of it was returned? After all the hundreds of texts that have been sent, not a single reply was received? What happens?
It will always be encouraging to plant, to labor, to persevere and to continue whenever our eyes could see glimpse of the bud, the flower and the fruit of what we have invested.
But what happens now when the fig tree has not blossomed? The vines have no fruit? The olive failed to produce? The field yielded no food? The flock was cut from the fold? And the stall has no more herds?
Are we to give up loving? Are we to despise the people who rejected us? Or are we to stop believing and obeying the commandment He has given us, which is to go and make disciples?
Along the way of making disciples, there will be times when we will experience drought, when there seems no fruit in the land we are tilling. There will be times of rejection, when people will say no right before our face. And there will be times when the love that we have given will not be reciprocated. How did I know? Because not only have I seen it but I have experienced it first hand.
But never have I lose hope. Yes, a lot of times I almost have given up - give up on encouraging, give up on giving and loving but thank God who always reminds me that my labors are not in vain. Many times have I cried before God, cried because there is no fruit in the land, cried because a voice is telling me that all I have invested has gone to nothing. But right there and then, God would remind me of the lives He has allowed me to mentor before, lives who once have received the seed and were forever changed. Lives who once have accepted the seed, were filled and now are continuing the work of planting the same seed that has been planted in them. What a domino effect! Right there and then I am amazed. Amazed of how the seed has grown, how it withstood all the storms of life and how it is multiplying now. Right there and then I have resolved, though years of labors give no sight of fruit never will I give up, never will I stop reaching out.
I will continue to plant, I will persist on giving and loving for He has said my labors are not in vain. Time will come, when I will see all the fruits of what I have planted. My job is to plant and wait, it will be Jesus who will grow the seed. Once Jesus grows seeds, their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit will fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary of the Living God.
Our labors are never in vain, one seed, one soul at a time. We will never know how far that seed would go unless we start sowing the seeds of love God has once sowed in our hearts. We give because He has given all, we reach out because He initiated to reach out to us and we love because He first loved us.
How can we get weary and lose sight of the big picture if we would fix our very eyes on Jesus who first did all these things for us. Anyway this is about Him.
Ate Ruby and I during her visit in QC last April 2010
Rubyruth Marie Garobo is an Economics graduate in University of the Philippines Diliman and is now currently working in Palawan State University as a professor.
DAY 62 10.12.10 8:57pm
It will always be encouraging to plant, to labor, to persevere and to continue whenever our eyes could see glimpse of the bud, the flower and the fruit of what we have invested.
But what happens now when the fig tree has not blossomed? The vines have no fruit? The olive failed to produce? The field yielded no food? The flock was cut from the fold? And the stall has no more herds?Are we to give up loving? Are we to despise the people who rejected us? Or are we to stop believing and obeying the commandment He has given us, which is to go and make disciples?
Along the way of making disciples, there will be times when we will experience drought, when there seems no fruit in the land we are tilling. There will be times of rejection, when people will say no right before our face. And there will be times when the love that we have given will not be reciprocated. How did I know? Because not only have I seen it but I have experienced it first hand.
But never have I lose hope. Yes, a lot of times I almost have given up - give up on encouraging, give up on giving and loving but thank God who always reminds me that my labors are not in vain. Many times have I cried before God, cried because there is no fruit in the land, cried because a voice is telling me that all I have invested has gone to nothing. But right there and then, God would remind me of the lives He has allowed me to mentor before, lives who once have received the seed and were forever changed. Lives who once have accepted the seed, were filled and now are continuing the work of planting the same seed that has been planted in them. What a domino effect! Right there and then I am amazed. Amazed of how the seed has grown, how it withstood all the storms of life and how it is multiplying now. Right there and then I have resolved, though years of labors give no sight of fruit never will I give up, never will I stop reaching out.
I will continue to plant, I will persist on giving and loving for He has said my labors are not in vain. Time will come, when I will see all the fruits of what I have planted. My job is to plant and wait, it will be Jesus who will grow the seed. Once Jesus grows seeds, their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit will fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary of the Living God.
Our labors are never in vain, one seed, one soul at a time. We will never know how far that seed would go unless we start sowing the seeds of love God has once sowed in our hearts. We give because He has given all, we reach out because He initiated to reach out to us and we love because He first loved us.
How can we get weary and lose sight of the big picture if we would fix our very eyes on Jesus who first did all these things for us. Anyway this is about Him.
Ate Ruby and I during her visit in QC last April 2010Rubyruth Marie Garobo is an Economics graduate in University of the Philippines Diliman and is now currently working in Palawan State University as a professor.
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. - 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
DAY 62 10.12.10 8:57pm
Love love love it! Planting seeds never goes out of style! :D
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