The Bamboo That Waited

Chinese bamboo is one of the most remarkable lessons in patience the natural world has to offer. A farmer plants the seed, waters it, and fertilizes the soil. After the first year — nothing. The second year — nothing. The third and fourth years pass with no visible growth above the surface. Most people would have given up long before the fifth year arrives.

But in that fifth year, Chinese bamboo can shoot up as much as ninety feet in just six weeks. Botanists have documented this astonishing phenomenon, and the explanation lies beneath the surface. During those four silent years, the bamboo was not idle. It was building a massive root system, spreading deep and wide through the earth, preparing a foundation strong enough to support the explosive growth to come.

Here is what strikes me about that bamboo. During those quiet years, the farmer had a choice every single morning — keep watering dirt that looks exactly like it did yesterday, or walk away. The bamboo did not send up progress reports. It offered no previews. It simply asked to be trusted.

The Apostle James wrote, "Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." The word he chose for patience carries the idea of remaining under a weight without collapsing.

Some of you are in year three with that bamboo. The ground looks bare. Nothing seems to be happening. But the roots are spreading. The Almighty is building something beneath the surface that will not fall when it finally rises. Keep watering.