Robbed

I had my first tomato sandwich yesterday – delicious! There were several more tomatoes on the vine; I was so looking forward to picking, eating and sharing them.

This morning, they are all gone. Every one of them. Robbed. My guess is that whatever took them got under the bird netting and up and over the fence; probably a squirrel. Large enough to carry them off, small enough to not tear the cloth. I found a half eaten red tomato in the yard; I found no green ones.

Fortunately, I have planted indeterminate tomatoes, and I hope I will get new blossoms, new tomatoes. For now, the problem is preventing the predators from returning. I need to secure the netting and check my fence for openings. I need to search my garden for how the squirrel got through and correct the problem.

What I don’t need to do is get all upset about the lost tomatoes. It is in the squirrel’s nature to test any obstacles in its way. And the purpose of a test is to show us what we have mastered and where we need to improve. My netting is protecting the garden from the birds, but needs some work to withstand the squirrels.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless, indeed, you fail the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5

I had a dustup with a friend. It has exposed a gap in my spiritual netting. I am too busy justifying my actions to feel remorse, too offended to feel compassion, too self-righteous to humble myself. I have let the thief come in the night and rob me of the fruit of the Spirit. What I need to do is search myself and discover how I let that happen. Where are the gaps in the fence, the open spaces in the netting? How was I so easily robbed? I need to correct the problem.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

What I don’t need to do is dwell on the problem, stress over it, fixate on it. More important than the lost tomatoes is the realization that I need to fix my netting. More important than the dustup is the realization that I need to realign myself with God.

It is hard to let the past go. It is a challenge to not relive the mistakes we’ve made, the wounds we have inflicted, the wounds inflicted upon us. Dwelling on past hurts can easily consume our day. But the past does not need to determine who we are. Even the recent past. Whatever I did wrong yesterday, and I am sure there was plenty, does not mandate what my actions today will be.

Today is a new day.

I will water my garden and try again to protect it from robbers and thieves.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

God has given me this new day, and the promise of new blossoms. God has shown me I cannot manifest His fruit by my own abilities. I need God, and I need to be vigilant against my baser self or evil forces robbing me of the Spirit’s fruit.

Fortunately, God has also given me the ability to do just that.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. John 1:12

So I will not let the tomato robber end my garden. I will not let the peace robber end my spiritual journey. These are setbacks and disappointments; these are tests I have failed. But God has given me faith, and hope, and love. Thank You Lord!

Go in peace, dear friend; go in the peace of God.

Betsy

The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. John 14:12