Giving Thanks

I can remember our dining room table covered with tomatoes. Nick said it made him feel wealthy. We were so grateful for God’s abundance.

This year, my garden has blessed some squirrels with a wealth of tomatoes.

The heat has been too much for my exuberant cucumbers, and the vines are dying.

I have not given up hope. I still water and tend; there are still blossoms. I have reinforced the fence and netting. There’s still a chance.

Any harvest fills me with gratitude. What an amazing gift – food from the earth. We are so accustomed to it that the wonder has dulled. God gives us what we need to survive. He always has. Not the government, not business ventures – the earth. God’s creation feeds God’s creatures.

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. Genesis 1:29

This year, in a time of drought and heat, God has been feeding His wild animals through my garden. That is OK. They cannot go to the grocery store or the farmer’s market to purchase what they need. I am grateful that I can.

I am grateful that I have a yard. I am grateful that there are wild animals living among us, although sometimes the bunnies and squirrels behave more like pets. I am grateful for water to quench my thirst, trees to provide shade, and a home with air conditioning to keep me cool.  

There is so much to be thankful for! So many of God’s gifts to us have become “given” that we fail to stop and give thanks for them. The sun, the warmth, the rain, the cool breeze, water. Trees, flowers, grass, seed bearing fruit.

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth. Psalm 104:14

Too often I focus so much on what I want to do, and my failure to complete it, that I miss what God is accomplishing. I miss the opportunity to give God thanks for what He has provided, what He is doing in my life.

The Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Luke 17:17-18

So today, I am giving thanks for my peppers. I am choosing not to dwell on my lack of ripe tomatoes. I am grateful for the cucumbers I harvested last month. I have decided to be grateful that my ripening tomatoes may have helped some desperate animal. I have plenty, and I have the ability to get more. I may still be able to harvest some tomatoes this year. But even if I don’t harvest anything more, I still choose to be grateful. Grateful to God for all that He has provided me. Grateful to God that He cares for me and the squirrels.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you.  I Thessalonians 5:18

A friend of mine has a sign in her kitchen which reads: What if you woke up tomorrow with only those things for which you were grateful today? Would we not spend the entire day listing all the things for which we are grateful? Will I spend at least part of my day today thanking God, being grateful for His gifts? Will you?

Don’t you think He would like at least one of us to “return and give praise to God?”

Thank You, Lord, for these peppers. Thank You for teaching me through the garden. Thank You for letting me have a garden. Thank You for gardens everywhere – your constant provision for us. You are a good and gracious God.

And thank you, friends, for reading this. Thank you for your encouragement.

Betsy

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. John 8:12