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In gardening, and I don’t claim to be anything like an expert, so I’m told, leaving soil fallow is one of the most counter-cultural choices a grower can make. Nothing is planted. No visible progress is made. From the outside, it can look like neglect — or even failure.
But fallow ground is not wasted ground. It is protected. It is given time to recover nutrients, to loosen what has become compacted, and to restore its capacity to receive new life. Rest is not the absence of care; it is care practised patiently.
Many of us, personally and collectively, struggle with this. I know I certainly do, I’m more of a doer than a reflector. We are shaped by cultures that value productivity, momentum, and visible outcomes. Silence feels uncomfortable. Waiting feels risky. Stillness can feel like falling behind.
Yet Scripture gently insists otherwise: Be still before the Lord.