“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” ~ Galatians 6:9

Kids cutting class is sometimes the reality of a public school teacher’s day. They may skip and hide on campus or may brave the outside world.

When the students do this, they leave evidence of their transgression. Sometimes, what is left is abstract, such as their absence. Other times, it is a physical sign such as a trail.

Where I teach, students will typically leave to go to a local store. This store is a short walk from the school, and students can easily get there by cutting through the wooded area between.

I recently took this way to grab some lunch for myself and had noticed a footpath that had developed from students making these unapproved trips. The grass was gone in one particular area, and the trail was distinctly dirt.

I could not help but think of all the roads I have taken and created over the years as I took this path made by my students: physically and spiritually. I know that roads such as these are not made overnight. They are created by routinely going over the same place and not allowing for the roots to take over once again.

This could be comparable to a ministry. In your faith, how many times have you told someone about Jesus, and they didn’t quite get it? But over time, they at least start to anticipate what you are going to say. Then they may start to say things like, “Yeah, God is good.” You being there is developing a path for individuals to take until they walk the road laid before them, and believe the Gospel which took place many years before on a path to a Cross and a Cross to a grave.

When they travel this road you trodden, they may eventually want to find what is at the end of it. If your ministry is theologically based, they will find an empty grave and believe.

So do not get discouraged when the roots of sin keep someone from seeing the truth instantly. Tread the path. Walk it a few times. Make it a journey yourself, so that others can join you on it.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:58