Righteous wait for the latter rain

“He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3b).

We cannot be left alone. To do so inclines us toward our nature, and without God’s guidance, our nature remains the same. We are a species bent toward repetition.

There is a saying in the psychology literature — “if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.” I will add, if you always get what you always want, you will always want what you always get.

God wishes to break the cycle. He wants to lead us in the paths of righteousness, but we are resistant and impatient.

Righteousness escapes me. It is not about right living. I am told it is about a right heart and because I know mine too well, the goal seems distant.

In my mind and heart, because God wishes to lead me, I retain a shard of hope God will get me there if I am willing to follow. It is not unlike the good shepherd who, knowing the flock’s needs, moves the herd to greener, more fertile pastures.

My Uncle Allen knew something about pastures. He was a farmer, a gentle man, soft-spoken, patient, and wise in perspective and humor. His eyes revealed genuineness uncommon in modernity. He understood the soil and nature’s seasons, fertility and crop yields, and as farmers learn, God’s time.

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain” (James 5:7).

If righteous is something we are ever to be, our life must wait for the rain to come, to renew our spirit, leading us to newer, greener, better pastures, God’s pastures. When we always do what we have always done, we stifle God’s spirit. His leading is the sun above the storm, the perspective unknown to us before, the greener pasture we fail to see because we are busy with our own pasture making.

Uncle Allen is my picture of righteousness and if I am to be as patient as he, perhaps God will take me there. I retain hope and faith. I retain my memory of him.

Uncle Allen planted and harvested most crops the South Carolina upstate favors. His last, before the Lord called him home, was sweet potatoes. He sold them from the back of his pickup along Route 2, Pelzer, South Carolina. Each transaction involved a hello, a quantity and a yes ma’am. There was cash and a thank you and if you were paying attention, you might glimpse in his demeanor a peace found from a patient life. If your heart was open, you might just take home a little bit of his light with those potatoes.

“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear” (Matthew 11:15).