I planted a new oak tree in my back yard last week. My arborist friend says that a mature tree adds $5,000 of value to the property. The problem is that my oak tree will not be mature for a long time —somewhere between 40 and 60 years, according to tree experts. So why even bother if I know I’ll never be around long enough to enjoy it?

When James Garfield (former President of the United States) was principal of Hiram College in Ohio, a parent asked him if the course of study that his son was taking could not be shortened. “Certainly,” replied Garfield, “but it all depends on what you want to make of your boy. When God wants to make an oak tree, He takes a hundred years. When He wants to make a squash, he does it in a summer.”

That which endures often takes time. Squash is good (if you cover it with enough melted cheese!), but the plant springs up and disappears in a few short weeks. A good oak can endure for hundreds of years.

That’s not a popular message in an age when we have become used to instant everything. Travel that used to take three months now takes a day. Food that used to take an hour now takes two minutes. Mail that used to take two weeks now takes a split second online.

But some things simply cannot be rushed. Earl Trapp has invested 58 years to see a violent, stone-age people become mature, reproducing followers of Jesus (read the story). That’s about the time it will take for my tree to reach maturity. Peak fruitfulness (acorn production) occurs between 50 and 80 years of age! I’ll never see that day, but I believe it’s worth it. That’s why I planted an oak.

Disciple-making is not a process that can be rushed. It takes a lifetime of investing to see a person fully transformed into the likeness of Christ. We may never live to see their peak fruitfulness. But we do it because that which endures — the human soul and the church — is worth it.