Back in early spring I got some green bean starts from a neighbor, already vigorously growing in their peat pots. I remember being impressed by the head start, but wary of whether or not they would actually produce. Well, so far, I’ve gotten a handful of green beans and they are looking like they’re already spent. And this is how the plants look:

Not so well, as you can see. Bug eaten, and not very pretty either.

Now, on the other side of the rocky aisle, about two feet away, are the beans I planted from seed at the proper time. At this point I have a crazy amount of beans ripening on the plants. Plus they are all healthy and beautiful! I’m amazed at the difference!

_ I’ve been thinking of Ruby with this object lesson. She has down syndrome and is now 13 months old. The list of activities she cannot do is long, especially when I compare her to the other three babies of the same age that belong to friends of mine. But today, she creeped! She wiggled and squirmed and propelled herself forward to get the toy she wanted. This was a great milestone! She may not be sitting up yet, but I’ve learned that cross-crawling is more important, so I was thrilled to celebrate!

It just makes me wonder how much we push our children to learn things or to know things before they are ready for it. At the swimming pool last week I witnessed an angry and exasperated mother whose child would not enter into the water (and she had “wasted two months on this already”.) She belittled her child and walked off in a huff. I remember thinking that the wee child was being forced into a peat pot instead of growing roots in her own time. She just didn’t seem ready.

And I also think of how I push myself to learn *everything* all at once. I feel, and rightly so, obligated to know how to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, what books and curriculum to use for homeschooling, how to properly prepare meals and care for the health of our family, all (and I mean ALL) about down syndrome, etc, etc, ETC. It can be overwhelming because I want to know these things now! But I, too, need time to grow, time to learn, time to recover from the mistakes I make. I can’t just barrel through. I need patience and persistence and sometimes, just simple plodding forward.

Ruby will do things in her own time. And she has been a good teacher to me in this, that my other children will do the same. And so, by God’s grace, will I.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in his time.

P.S. If you’d like a really great book on this topic to share with your own blessings, check out Ruby in Her Own Time (and isn’t that an appropriate title?)