It is late September; it’s time to harvest the carrots, whether they are ready or not.

Recent rains have softened the soil, but that is not enough to encourage the ground to let loose of its treasure. I sit amongst the flimsy fronds and claw around their base. Carefully I scrape away the dirt and mulch, and tear away the ever present crabgrass vines.

Picking ripe tomatoes and cucumbers takes much less effort!

Many of the carrot roots are tiny. Did I plant them too close together? Was I supposed to let them grow for a year? If I plant these again, I will gather more information from experienced carrot growers.

Some of my carrot roots are broken. Did this happen while I was harvesting them, or had some animal eaten them underground? If there is carrot root still in the ground, will it sprout next spring? I will leave this part of the garden unplanted next year, just in case!

I am eager to wash these carrots and have a taste. I have plans to roast them and share them with my family. But for now, I am still in wonder at the effort it took to unearth them.

Is there some gift to the world that lies buried within us, covered in the dirt of our past and the debris of our lives? Will God need to scrape away much of the comfortable space around us to expose that gift, to allow that gift to nourish others?

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly. Titus 2:11-12.

Often, I would like God to manifest Himself in my life without having to change anything. And sometimes He does. Once those tomato plants have reached their prime, their fruit is easily available. But other times, the current situation may need to change. I may need to dig up the ground, scrape off the dirt, and remove the entanglements before I can access the gift God has given me.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1.

Now the carrots are exposed, freed from the soil which held them tightly and the crabgrass entangling them. But they are not clean yet; they are not ready to be put to good use. I still need to rinse them, probably scrub them, maybe parboil them to get them ready. Is God doing this to me, for me? Is God cleansing me of all the dirt and grime in my life, so that I can be put to His good use?

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! Hebrews 9:14.

Sometimes we need to work in tandem with God, clearing away the debris, digging away the layers of dirt, until we expose the treasure buried deep. Only then can we use that good bounty to nourish others and further His kingdom.

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:9-10.

Is there some unrighteous dirt covering the beautiful treasure God has given you? There was a lot of dirt covering the carrots and clinging tenaciously to them. Once they are clean, I will have a feast. God is preparing a feast and wants to add the treasure hidden within you to the bountiful harvest. Won’t you bring your good crop and join Him?

Betsy

Nothing is stagnant in my garden. Everyday something is different than it was yesterday. My basil leaves are beginning to yellow. The bright green leaves are duller today; perhaps the shorter days are causing this. Even their scent seems muted. I love the flavor of basil, so I am going to harvest these leaves while they are still green and make pesto.

One of the many lessons that gardening has taught me is that procrastination is rarely a good plan. Because everyday something is different than it was yesterday. The cucumber you let grow another day yellows and sours. The broccoli you leave for tomorrow blossoms overnight. The basil left a few more days browns and withers. You must watch these plants closely, and act when the time is right.

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2b.

What fruit is God bringing forth in my life that I needs to use today? What act of care, what expression of comfort, what word of support needs to happen today?

There may be obstacles in the way. There were in my pesto making. My food processor died, full of half-made pesto. Additional leaves had been cut; I needed to make the pesto that day. My first couple of phone calls went unanswered. Then I remembered my sister who was only in town for a few days, staying at her son’s home. Almost 12 years older than me and living out of town, she and I didn’t have a history of working together on projects. Now we do!

Instead of losing my pesto and my patience struggling with unwieldy appliances, she and I made five batches of pesto and shared an enjoyable time working together. There was more than just pesto made that morning!

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.

I love that the organizers of the Bible titled this section “The Value of a Friend.” As a widow living alone, I could let fear and failure and falling dictate my life. But I don’t. I have friends, and family that are friends, and I am not alone. Even when my problems are comparatively minor in scope, say, a failing food processor, when I work with another, I can have a good reward for my toil.

And the comfort of friendly support and a shared experience is even more treasured than the pesto!

Sometimes the working together is more important than the project. As a task oriented individual, I feel I should tell myself this every day. My relationships are more important than my to-do list. Your needs may well be of greater importance than my plans. I have been put here in this time and place for a reason (Esther 4:15). Perhaps that reason is to be with you right now.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interest of others. Philippians 2:3-4.

I am grateful that my sister was available to help me make pesto before the leaves wilted. I am grateful that someone invented pesto to preserve that wonderful basil taste long after the plants rested. I am grateful that I will get to reap the benefits of my basil in the future, because I acted, with help, at the right time.

Even as much as I will enjoy this pesto in the future, I think the story of how my sister rescued me that morning will last longer. Isn’t that the way with God? What we accomplish may last a while; what He accomplishes lasts much longer, maybe forever.

Do what needs to be done today, but stay open to God including others in your tasks. His plans for you are far more rewarding than your plans for yourself. You may find yourself making memories as well as pesto!

Betsy

The bird netting is down. For me, that declares the end of my tomato season. There are still green tomatoes on the vine, but I am sharing them with the wildlife that calls my backyard home. My last harvested tomato is ripening on my table. Soon it will be a delicious sandwich, my last until next summer.

I struggle a little with not picking every possible tomato from my garden. It feels wasteful somehow. There is a part of me that feels I should gather as much as I can and leave nothing to “waste.” There is another part of me that senses this is greed and a result of scarcity fears. And is it really “waste” to let the animals have some tomatoes? Didn’t God grow plants for them as well?

Interestingly, it is not the squirrels who are eating my tomatoes. Even without the ruby kisses hiding the plants (I have uprooted them), even with the netting down, the squirrels are staying out of the garden. Even I can smell the pungent marigolds over the fragrant tomatoes.

I suspect a deer, even though I haven’t seen one and I live a block off a major road. That my tomatoes could be feeding a deer brings me great joy. Nick was a very successful hunter; deer have fed my family for years. It only seems fitting that I should return the favor, repay the gift in some small way.

When God through Moses established a covenant community agreement with his people, He made sharing the last of the crop law.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyards bear, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:9-10.

I don’t really have any poor or alien peoples in my back yard, nor do I have a big enough garden to invite them in. But I do have wildlife. Birds and bunnies, foxes, coyotes, squirrels and chipmunks, and, apparently, deer. I can share God’s gifts with them.

Can I expand this act of sharing to other areas of my life? Can I live with my hands more open?

Certainly Jesus lived that way. He was not concerned over matching linens or marble countertops. He was not concerned about gathering up as much as He could while He could. When the disciples gave him 5 loaves, He shared it with 5000 people. (Matt, 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6.) He shared His time and His life generously with all people. He instructed us to give to everyone who asks (Matt. 5), not to worry about food and clothing (Matt. 6), and to lay up our treasures in heaven not on earth. (Matt.6).

Jesus call us to practice gleaning, sharing on a universal scale.

What would it look like if we didn’t feel the need to hoard things for our own use? Could I actually share all the clothes I don’t wear with someone who might need them? Could some of the food in my pantry go to Second Harvest? (Great name, by the way!). Could the gleanings from my investment account change a needy person’s life?

Amazing things can happen when we follow God’s directives to share what He has given us.

Boaz was a landowner simply following God’s gleaning laws, when he noticed Ruth, probably the most famous gleaner in the Bible.

She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, “please let me glean and gather behind the reapers.” So she has came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting for even a moment. Ruth 2:6-7

Ruth, the foreign woman working in the field, great-grandmother to King David.

Open your hand today. Share what God has given you. And watch our amazing God at work.

Betsy

I went to pull down the bird netting this morning, and there was a bird trapped inside the netting. Frantic at my presence, she flew to the netting to try to get out.

Since I was taking down the netting anyway, I just went about my business getting it down. Surely she would notice the open sides as the netting was pulled away.

But she didn’t. As I opened up foot after foot of freedom, she flew a few feet in front of me, madly beating at the netting. As I rounded the garden space, she clung to the netting until she was at the end, trapped in the mesh. The entire garden was open. If she had not clung to the netting, she could have been free much earlier.

The bird netting is collected and balled together at the ends. When she reached the end, she became trapped, entangled, unable to free herself. Calmly and softly, and against her loud protests, I cut the mesh away from her. Finally the netting was away from her wings, and she flew free.

Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1.

Do we do the same? Trapped inside a net of bad behaviors, do we cling to what we know, frantic to escape, but unable to see the freedom available to us? Do we seek to escape through the very means by which we were trapped? How many windows must God open for us before we stop banging on the closed door?

I remember a Ziggy cartoon that read: Every time I get depressed about being overweight, I drown my sorrows in a cup of hot chocolate and a box of chocolate chip cookies.

What entanglements am I clinging to instead of trusting in Jesus? Am I looking to Him or trying to save myself? Do I, like the bird, miss the available path to freedom?

The entire garden was open, but this poor bird was trapped in the netting bunched in one spot. My presence with the scissors drew vehement protests, but eventually I cut away the entanglements and set her free.

Has not God done the same for me? Such a life of freedom and joy await, if I can just look away from netting and fly free. When sin has ensnared me, have I complained as God cut away the trap? What great lengths God has gone to in order to free me!

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16.

What joy I felt when the bird finally flew away. The netting was there to protect the tomatoes; I didn’t want a bird entangled and injured by it. My heart was moved as she struggled in vain to free herself. I gave her more and more opportunities to escape, but she wouldn’t take them.  If my selfish heart can care so much for this bird’s plight, how much more must God’s heart ache for us? How He must rejoice when we finally let Him save us!

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7.

Once the bird flew free, she had her friends and the entire neighborhood at her disposal. Unencumbered by the netting, her options seemed limitless. I would like to think that she would tell her friends that I was a loving human, but I am content that she is free.

What is trapping you today? What is trapping me? God wants to set us free. He does not want to see us die in our sins. He has created a beautiful world for us with seemingly limitless options. Will you let Him set you free?

So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36.

Betsy