Last spring, I planted an artichoke plant in the garden. I watched it grow really big from March till October. When all the garden vegetables were harvested, there were still no artichoke. People in the garden FB group that I am a part of says their plants have lots of artichokes. I was disappointed, perhaps I didn't do a good job taking care of it. When I cleared out the other vegetable plants, I wanted to dig it up. But I didn't and instead did some research. I found that sometimes artichoke grow in the second year after it's been planted. Humm....so I left the plant there through the winter. I didn't take care of it at all, even through all the rain and cold freezes, it survived. When the weather got warmer, it began to grow and now there are three beautiful and hearty artichokes.
This happened at about the same time as C's debut on the worship team. On April 2nd, C played piano for the main worship service for the very first time. I felt so privilege to be front and center to see God's blessing and miracle. Of course, I was proud of him for his skill. But most of all, I am very thankful for God's work in his life. I remember C hates playing in front of people and performing. He would refuse to even play piano for my mom and sister no matter how much we bribe him. But now, he willingly serve and play for the church. WOW!!! I am blown away. God is soooo good.
God made me a mom to kids who are late bloomers. Some kids display their talents, strengths, and interests at a very young age, but not my kids. I try to expose them to many things to see what they like and what they are good at. Nothing seems to be their thing. I guess it's easy to parent a gifted child. You'll know their gift and all you have to do is put money into developing that gift. It is much harder to parent children who require a little help to find their gifts and talents. Nothing in my life is easy because God is developing my talents Himself. God made me very passionate, full of ideas, and always the pioneer. I guess my personality is what my children need as their mom.
I have to be honest, many days I get very discouraged when I see other people's kids with so much talents and doing so well. I wonder what did wrong. Of course, it doesn't help when people give praises to parents when their kids displayed incredible talents or get awards, attributing the success of the child to great parenting. A lot of time it is true. But none-the-less, this makes me feel like a terrible parent when my kids didn't have similar successes. But God reminded me that things happen in HIS time and for HIS purpose. Like the artichoke plant, my kids were growing just fine in the first season. There was nothing wrong, it just needed a longer time to bloom. All I had to do is continue to let it be rooted in the nutrient rich soil. Like the plant, my kids will bloom in the next season, or the season after that. So now, I can finally see C blooming a little. Not only can he play piano, but he did not play using music sheet. He played using cord and also improvised. On top of that, he played the whole worship set with a few pointers from Hebron and only a week and a half of minimal practice. I am super excited of his ability and desire to serve. I cannot attribute his ability to my parenting because God knows I struggle. But I feel blessed and also humbled that my Heavenly Father allowed me to experience His work in C's life.
But I do have to give credit to Hebron because he is a terrific role model for the kids. Hebron is the boys' initial piano teacher. I always jokingly say that because he is the teacher, the boys are behind the average kid who has an "official" teacher. Hebron loves to lead worship and to use his talents for the Lord. He model for the boys a desire to serve and help. They both enjoy playing piano with dad and want to play for his worship team. I don't know how, but Hebron instilled in them the desire to use their talents for others. This is something no piano teacher can teach, it can only be modeled.
To have artichoke, the plant had to battle a harsh winter. I also planted other winter vegetables this past October like broccoli and potatoes. They were growing fine, but when the freeze came, those plants died. But not the artichoke because it spent the entire spring season forming roots and growing deep. Perhaps because of that, the artichoke survived. My Heaven Father took this opportunity to remind me that the time I spent and saw no result is also the time my kids began to form deep roots. God is using that time to prepare them for the bloom soon to come. Just as I did nothing to the plant to get artichoke this season, I don't have to do anything further, except the normal watering, to bring out my kids' talents. But sometimes a little fertilizer is necessary. How do I know when to add fertilizer to my kids? Only God knows what they need, which means I have to be close to my Creator (their Creator) to know.
So now I say, "Remember the artichoke?" to remind myself that my kids will bloom in HIS time.
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