Who brings whom to Christ?

It has been a strange week. On Wednesday we returned to school. Traffic was light (due to the recession?) but the school was abuzz with energy - teenagers are irrepressible. I got news that a former pupil has given birth to a baby boy and another is pregnant. I remember when they weren't much more than babies themselves. neither is married of course and while I am overjoyed that they have chosen to keep their babies I am sad that their life will not be as easy as, or rather will now be harder than, it might have been. I wonder whether I am making any impact on these young lives that makes a long term difference. But of course that requires the long term. Only God knows and it is He who brings people to Himself, He invites, calls, and touches lives. Sometimes we are listening and respond. Sometimes we choose not to. Sometimes we are deaf. All we can do is try to be open, to be good sowers and good soil. It is so tempting, though, to look for results, for shoots in the midst of winter.