Between the Testaments

I started my little avocado tree project with lots of optimism and gusto, all ready to nurture a cute little shoot from my impulse. I have diligently kept the water level right up to the top of the mug that it sits in, and made sure a light source was readily available.

Something I read somewhere on the internet said that it could take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks for a shoot to appear from the seed. This has just passed 4 weeks, and there is not even a hint of anything alive. No roots from the bottom, and no splitting of the top to give way to a green shoot. Just a grungy looking, gradually shriveling seed.

So I will myself to just continue to care for this thing and see what happens. Sometimes it seems pointless and I think maybe I ought to just abandon this. After all, this is not my job. It's just a little avocado pit, rescued from some guacamole.

But then I started to think about the nation of Israel. From what I understand, there was about 400 years between the end of the Old Testament portion of the Bible and the new. Many prophecies were given of the coming of the Messiah that would bring salvation and redemption to His people.

But then the days stretched into weeks and months. Without any word or inspiration, years and decades and even centuries passed by. I've waited 4 weeks for a plant where they waited 400 years for a savior. I would think that many Israelites began to think that nothing was going to happen. People were born, raised and died with no sign of the promised one.

In fact, they waited so long that when it happened, and Jesus appeared as a baby in tiny Bethlehem, no one noticed, except a few select individuals. I have a feeling that I'll come into work some morning and see a small crack in the top of the seed on my desk. When I do, I'll smile and think of my Messiah.