Still Going!

My garden is rather feral now. I am not watering it or weeding it or tending to it. Nor have I pulled up my plants and prepared for winter. My plants are in recess, a time of unstructured play. My pepper plants seem quite happy about this. Innately able to withstand hotter, drier temperatures, they seem to revel in the occasional rain and cooler nights.

I planted my peppers at the same time I planted my cucumbers and tomatoes. The cucumbers plants have been dead for many weeks. One lone tomato plant is hanging on, still producing, but all the rest are just brown stalks.

But these peppers, these proud elderly denizens of my garden still declare that God is not done yet!

Now it 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 the glory in the church and to Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21.

I confess that I find it difficult to move this concept from my head to my heart. My head says God is capable of anything and everything. My heart says keep my expectations low to minimize disappointment.

Faith tells me that whatever God does in my life He does with the purpose of bringing me to a closer relationship with Him, whether it aligns with my expectations and desires or not.

And being able to have a close personal relationship with the creator of the universe is a truly amazing thing! He spoke our planet and all life on it into existence; He spoke through His prophets, His angels, and His Son; and He speaks through His Spirit today. He called life into existence, and He calls me by name. Why be disappointed if my puny plans don’t work out the way I had imagined? He is able to accomplish far more, abundantly far more.

Watching these peppers ripen in mid-October boosts my faith, and makes me yearn for longer-living plants, bushes, or trees even. Wouldn’t it be nice if my plants didn’t die and could regrow on their own next year? I love the fruit these annual plants bear, but I long for hardier, more deeply rooted vegetation. I see the allure of apple groves and pecan stands, blueberry bushes and fig plants.

To grow these plants takes a bigger commitment than my summer garden: more space, more time, more patience. Sometimes I find it difficult to wait two months for fruit; could I wait five years? If I am that impatient with my garden, am I that impatient with God?

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but it patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to some to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9.

If I were to plant a pear tree today, there is a good chance that I would be unable to pick its fruit when it came in 5 years. Then again, the only way I can have a tree bearing pears in five years is to plant it today. Perhaps the fruit would be for someone else to harvest.

I hope that I am not a shallow plant, short-lived and easily uprooted. I hope that I have put down deep roots, found hidden streams of water, and bear eternal fruit. But my garden is full of short-lived shallow plants, which bear wonderful fruit, feeding myself, my friends, and the animals. Perhaps God’s garden needs all of them, all of us.

Perhaps, if I am rooted in God, He will provide fruit long after I expect Him to, even into late October, even after I am able to harvest it.

… If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, … the Lord will guide you continually, … and you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:8-11.

Betsy