The Apostle Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow”
(I Corinthians 3:6 NIV).
I believe all foster parents begin with high hopes and expectations of what we’ll be able to accomplish in the lives of our foster children. However, eventually, most, if not all, reach the point of feeling that perhaps everything we’re doing is in vain. Just when we begin to make progress with the child, home visits begin, and the child begins to act out in disturbing ways. Or perhaps a teenager, who was doing well, returns to their biological family, and we learn later they ended up in jail.
In our early days of foster parenting, the Holy Spirit spoke to me about our responsibility of planting seeds–seeds of truth, dignity, respect, and love. However, it was not until later that I began to understand that it was not my responsibility to make those seeds grow! I learned that when we try to take on responsibility for something we cannot do, a great deal of frustration results. It takes great faith simply to go on planting seeds when there is no evidence that those seeds are taking root.
I began to have hope, however, when I learned that in the natural, seeds can lie dormant for even thousands of years, but when the right atmospheric conditions develop, the seeds can sprout and grow. Hope enabled us to continue planting seeds. We also prayed that, at some point in our foster children’s lives, God would create the right atmospheric conditions for those seeds to take root and grow.
Thank you, Father, that our only responsibility is to plant the seeds and to water and fertilize them with our prayers. Your responsibility is to make them grow. Amen.
