I thought my garden was over for the year. But just like Lee Corso on Game Day, God is reminding me I don’t have the last say.

Despite record heat, my once wilted tomatoes are showing signs of life. New green tomatoes are growing on the few surviving stalks. I was ready to pull them all up, but wait! Not so fast, Betsy. There is growth here; there is fruit here.

Isn’t God amazing!?! Just when I thought my garden was all dried up and lifeless, there is life! There is fruit!

Perhaps I should be accustomed to God bringing dead things back to life; He certainly has a history of doing so. Yet it always amazes me! Such joy! Such hope! How can pessimism survive in the face of such evidence?

These new green tomatoes on my dying plant remind me that with God all things are possible. If He can create the cosmos with a word and man with a breath, of course He can create new tomatoes on a dying plant. Of course He can revitalize a lagging congregation. Of course He can reunite disputing factions. Of course He can breathe energy into a seemingly hopeless situation. Of course He can!

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21.

I am often ready to give up and move on. Not just with my garden, but with all kinds of things. How many times have I set a deadline and moved on when others did not meet it? Is this efficiency or impatience? Does this tendency indicate practical realism or cynical unbelief?

My parents, German to the bone, managed our family of eight by enforcing strict time frames. If we were to leave at 5, we left at 5, whether you were ready or not. I still get anxious if I know I am running late. I try to be more gracious with others, but I still have to fight the urge to give up and move on when they are not on my schedule.

God is working on this in me. He is not on my schedule. If He has a schedule, He alone sets it. There is a rhythm to life that He has given us based on the rotations of the earth around the sun, but I sense He is not bound by that. Seasons and laws of nature are a gift to us, not a restriction on Him. 

So even though it is late August, I have little green tomatoes on my aging plants. Even though I am a widow in my sixties, I have started a blog and am learning how to write. Even though you may feel used up, tired, and dying, God can produce something new and wonderful in your life.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11.

And this life is not merely eternal, it is full and vibrant in the here and now. Life with Christ is like new tomatoes on an old plant. His Spirit within gives me the ability to be patient and flexible in my dealings with others, and with myself. He makes me hopeful and expectant rather than cynical and pessimistic. 

I am so glad I didn’t pull the plants up already. I am so grateful that I had not given up on them and moved on yet. God still had life for them to live. God still has life for me to live. God still has life for you to live.

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10.

Betsy

There is a sense among many Christians today that we are in the end times. My garden is in the end times. The tomato plants have turned brown and wilted. The cucumber leaves are yellowed and curling. No new fruit is evident. Only the flowers and weeds seem to thrive. The carrots have yet to push above the ground; perhaps they never will.

Yes, this is the end times for my garden. And yet, it is not. This is just the end times for this garden. Next year, God willing, I will have another garden. It won’t be exactly like this one; every year my garden is a little different. Every year, some plants flourish and others struggle. Heat waves, droughts, flooding, sudden cold spells – even if I plant all the same things, each year the garden grows in a unique way.

What looks like the end is actually just change. Change can be scary, but it is certainly nothing new. Change may indicate the end of some patterns that we love, but it has yet to indicate The End.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. Matthew 24:6.

Since Jesus spoke those words, Rome has fallen, the Holy Roman Empire has fallen, the Ottoman Empire has fallen, Russia continues to increase and decrease. Atlas makers cannot keep up with the shifting African nations. Will America fall? History teaches us it is bound to happen at some point or another. But as Christians, we have a dual citizenship. Even if our nation changes radically, even if our nation falls, our status as citizens of God’s Kingdom will not change. His Empire will never fall.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20.

Yes, our world is changing; so is my garden. My garden is dying; soon it will be dead. For a season. Since I have a longer concept of time than my plants, I know that this is just a time of rest. The garden will be back next year. It will be different, sure, maybe better, maybe not, but this is not the end of all gardening.

Imagine how much larger God’s concept of time is than ours. Eternity. What is 400 years? What is a thousand? What is four thousand? That’s about how long ago God called Abram. Has it been the blinking of an eye for Him? Treasuring every moment as a parent treasures their moments with their children; time seemingly passing so quickly. 

But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 2 Peter 3:8.

So, yes, my garden is ending. Soon I will pull up all the dead plants and let the ground rest for the winter. Soon, these plants will stop taking from the earth and return their nutrients to the soil. This change is not a cause for fear or distress. Perhaps it is a time to examine myself and see where I have put my confidence.

Am I trusting my efforts and my garden to feed me? Don’t I know that God alone can make a tomato grow? Am I trusting our government to eradicate evil in our society? Don’t I know that God alone can overcome evil? Don’t I know that Jesus Christ alone is my savior? 

Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God. They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand upright. Psalm 20:7-8.

If this is the end times, let us take the opportunity today to put our confidence in God and take pride only in His saving grace. If this is just a change of seasons, putting our confidence in God alone will prepare us to embrace God’s gifts in the new season.

May the peace of Christ be with you.

Betsy

I find aging plants fascinating. As the tomato and cucumber plants yield their fruit, their once verdant leaves begin to brown. As the heavy fruit weighs down the branches, the leaves begin to wilt and sag. It seems as if the plant is putting all its energy into producing fruit, no longer as concerned about its appearance.

Of course, it is every bit as beautiful to me as it was as a young plant. As excited as I was to see its growing green leaves, I am more excited to see its ripening fruit.

Do not adorn yourselves outwardly…, rather let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4.

Perhaps this happens to us as we mature as Christians as well. As we focus more on deepening our relationship with God and encouraging the growth of his Spirit’s fruit in our lives, we have fewer resources to give to our outward appearance. Perhaps, at some point, being patient and kind becomes more important than looking younger than we are.

After all, I did not plant those tomato plants to be beautiful plants in my garden. I planted them to bear tomatoes.

I don’t believe God put us in this place and time just to have people admire us. He put us here for a reason: to bear His fruit, to love one another, to further His Kingdom.

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:10.

How beautiful we must be in God’s eyes when we bear His fruit, when we do His will! This is why He created us, planted us in this place, and provided His food and water for us. So what if our leaves brown and wilt? So what if spots appear and our branches droop? The beauty of young things may encourage us to care for them, but true lasting beauty comes in maturity.

And how convenient that this aging out of the garden comes right as everything else is gearing up. Although that is no coincidence. The school year was set when we were a largely agrarian society. Families needed the kids at home during the growing season; their livelihood depended on the summer crops.

Education, football, volunteer work – all that could wait until the crops were in. So, in the summer, I tend to my garden and swim in the lake. In the fall, I go to Bible studies and committee meetings and watch football. This rhythm is still very ingrained in us, even as we move to year-round school in our post-agrarian society.

When my kids were in school, Nick and I battled the push for year-round school. At some deep level, I appreciate that there are seasons for things. Not every day should look the same; not every month should mimic the month before. Maybe because I have a garden, I appreciate the cycle of growth, production, and rest. Non-stop sameness is a product of industrialization; out of sync with the natural flow created by God.

On a bigger scale, this rhythm and flow, this constant change, is part of our spiritual life as well. There are times of growth, times of production, and times of rest. Even as we honor God in everything we do (Col. 3:17), we have seasons of study, seasons of service, and seasons of quiet communion with God.

And there is beauty in all of it. God sees it, even if others may not.

For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

So, when I look at these plants, I do not see the browning leaves but the beautiful fruit. When I look at my older Christian friends, I do not see the lines on their faces but the love in their eyes and the smiles on their lips. I pray we can be beautiful in every season.

Betsy