Pick the Fruit

The cucumbers are ripe and the peppers have turned red.

I need to go out and pick, today.

Tomorrow, there will be more to pick. Because I planted indeterminate plants, this is happening over a period of weeks instead of all at the same time. As I pick, more ripen.

In fact, if I do not pick the ripe fruit, I delay the production of more fruit. Perhaps the plant only has so much energy to share, and it goes to the ripe fruit before it goes to the emerging fruit. In this sense, picking the fruit is a sort of pruning that allows for more resources to be sent to emerging fruit.

Pruning is the act of cutting back the unproductive parts of the plant so that the more productive parts can flourish. Much less important in backyard gardens than in a vineyard, pruning dead branches and “dead-heading” flowers can still improve any crop. Perhaps picking the fruit accomplishes the same goal.

Every branch that bears fruit He prunes to make it bear more fruit. John15:2

Nick liked to think that it made the plant happy to know that we desired its fruit; that us picking the fruit encouraged the plant to produce more. And I want happy, fruit-producing plants.

After all, everyone likes to feel appreciated. We all want at least one other person to appreciate what we are producing, what we are putting out into the world, what we are gifting to the cosmos. And when others seem to appreciate our efforts, we are more likely to continue them.

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. I Thessalonians 5:11

Another reason to pick the fruit is because the fruit I grow in my garden, like the fruit the Spirit grows in my life, has a purpose. And its purpose is not to just to sit and rot on the vine.

We may not know the purpose of what is growing in our lives. Like the tomato I give away, I may never know its end use.

But one thing I know. Every fruit has a purpose beyond its own existence.

Fruit propagates more plants and benefits every creature that partakes of it. That beautiful tomato does not exist to make the plant look pretty. And God does not give us joy and peace so that we can be joyful and peaceful in our home by ourselves.

God gives us His fruit to further His kingdom and benefit every creature on this earth. What a waste it would be to let it rot on the vine, to deny that fruit its larger purpose.

“I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, have what is yours.” But his master replied, “you wicked and lazy slave!” Matthew 25:25-26

So I am headed out to the garden to pick a cucumber or two, maybe even a pepper. Maybe I’ll have them on a salad or as a sandwich. They will provide me with vital nutrients to support me for another day. They will allow me to put off a grocery run for a while. I may even share them with you.

And I will thank God for growing them in my garden. I thank Him for my yard, the sun, the rain, the fruit itself, and the ability to pick it, eat it and share it.

I also thank Him for you, dear friends, who have encouraged me and continue to do so. I hope my experiences in the Victory Garden have encouraged you. You, too, have fruit to share.

Betsy

It is the Lord that goes before you. He will be with you; He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Deuteronomy 31:8