Today, let me lift my voice in thanks to God.

Thank you, Lord, that I am able to write these words and send them out electronically.

Thank you, Lord, that someone is reading these words.

Thank you for computers and electricity and the written word and teachers that taught us to read and write.

Thank you for the printing press and those dedicated souls who copied your word by hand.

Thank you, Lord, that you gave us your word in written form.

All scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16.

Thank you, Lord, for ample food easily available.

Thank you for the people who grew this food, raised these animals, ensured their quality, transported them, and kept them unspoiled for us.

Thank you for the generations before us who taught us how to prepare this food and gave us recipes to follow.

Thank you for the variety of tastes and flavors and combinations that your natural world provides for us.

Thank you for the different cultures who have influenced what we cook, how we cook, and how we eat our food.

Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Luke 13:29.

Thank you, Lord, that I am healthy enough to prepare this food and my family is healthy enough to join me.

Thank you for medicines that cure, medicines that treat, and medicines that prevent.

Thank you for the scientists and doctors who develop those medicines.

Thank you that they can be delivered to my door or picked up in minutes.

Thank you for doctors who have taken the time and energy to understand the human body and diseases and disorders.

Thank you for their teachers who have shared the knowledge gained from generations of people who cared enough to try to help those who were ill.

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. Matthew 25:39-40.

Thank you, Lord, that my family is able to join me in giving thanks to you.

Thank you for family.

Thank you for uniting these people born to different sets of parents into one family that could gather together to thank you.

Thank you for parents that love their children.

Thank you for children who care for their parents.

Thank you for the circumstances in life that brought us all to this table.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Thank you, Lord, for your earth around us.

Thank you for frosty nights and warm houses.

Thank you for leaves that turn red and brown, and, in the spring, green again.

Thank you for sunlit clouds and the radiant colors of sunrises and sunsets.

Thank you for flowers that bloom in the winter, bringing color to our world.

And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ Isaiah 6:3.

Thank you, Lord, for this day set aside to give thanks.

Thank you for reminding us that we did not create this world; You did.

Thank you for reminding us that the sun, the rain, the ground, the plants, the animals, our bodies, our brains, whatever abilities we have, all are a gift from you.

Thank you for sending your Son to draw us closer to you.

Thank you for caring so much for us, for loving us even when we are unlovable.

Thank you for forgiving us, even though it cost so much.

Thank you for the opportunity to call you Lord and Father.

Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! Psalm 117.

Betsy

Many of us, in mid-November, are preparing a feast.

Next week, family and friends will gather for what is traditionally the biggest feast day on the American calendar. No hamburgers and hotdogs here!

Preparing for Thanksgiving takes a lot of planning and coordination. Who is coming? Where will they sit? What are their dietary restrictions? What side dish can they add to the table?

What can I buy in advance? What can I cook in advance? What can I cook on Wednesday, and what must be cooked on Thursday? What is the schedule for the oven? What dishes do I use to serve the food? What plates and silverware will I use?

Centerpiece? Tablecloth? Napkins? Place cards?

God is preparing a feast for us.

I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham, Issac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 8:11.

He has been preparing this feast for us, the human race, for a long time, and it promises to be glorious.

And unlike my dining room table, there is plenty of room.

The problem seems to be that some people have made other plans. We’ve had the years when Thanksgiving looked like that. Your sister is visiting her husband’s family; your daughter is traveling with her in-laws; your son is working on Wednesday and Friday and can’t make the trip. Suddenly, your table looks empty.

Then Jesus said to them, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner, he sent his slave to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses.” Luke 14:16-18.

One of those years when no one was able to come, I went to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with family there. I even brought the turkey. Our God, through Jesus, does this, too. He comes to us when we are making excuses for why we can’t go to Him.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me. Revelation 3:20

He even brings the food. He wants to have this great feast with us.

He modeled it in Mosaic law.

Speak to the people of Israel saying, on the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.  You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute throughout your generations.” Leviticus 23: 34,41.

Not just a feast on one day, but a feast for seven days. A HUGE feast – for everyone.

God gave David a vision of a feast with his enemies present, where they would have to acknowledge God’s blessing of his life. (Psalm 23:5).

And Jesus loved to feast. With sinners, which is a good thing since we are all sinners.

When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Mark 2:16-17.

So, as I am preparing my feast for my family, I remember that God is preparing a feast for mankind and inviting all the sinners to feast with him. What a glorious feast that will be!

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Revelation 19:9.

Enjoy the feast!

Betsy

Preparing my garden for winter is a slow and mindless task; at least I am doing it in a slow and mindless way. Sitting in the garden, pulling up the weeds around me, I am using my muscles, but my mind wanders.

Isn’t it an amazing thing that we need food? That all living things need food?

It would be far more practical if we didn’t. How much easier our lives would be, what a greater chance of survival we would have, if we didn’t need food.

No need to endanger ourselves hunting, exhaust ourselves foraging, or expose ourselves to the elements.

But God did not create his universe to live in isolation.

We must all live in connection with each other, the plants, the animals, the humans, even the atmosphere. We all need each other to grow and survive. The plants need the air and sunshine and water to grow; they need the pollinators and seed eaters to profligate. Herbivores need the plants to sustain themselves, and carnivores need the plants to sustain the herbivores. We, and other omnivores, need all of creation to sustain us.

We cannot live without the rest of God’s world. At the very least, we need a plant to eat. We need to get off our couch, go outside, interact with the world around us, and find an edible plant.

This feels very simplistic, but too often food just comes from the grocery store, or door dash. That’s like saying babies come from the hospital. It misses the vital connection.

God created His world to need each other, forced all of nature to live in dependence on each other, made it impossible for any plant, animal, or human to live in complete isolation.

What does that tell us about God?

Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. Romans 1:20.

God wants us to live in connection not just with each other, but with all of nature. God essentially forced us to live in connection with nature by creating us to need food.

As I have mentioned before, my husband Nick was a hunter. He used to say that if you wanted a species to survive and thrive, make it a food source. Then the harvesters will ensure the survival of the herd, even if for purely selfish reasons. It is when we harvest animals for non-food reasons – whale oil, fur coats, ivory, bragging rights – that their extinction becomes likely.

Because when we realize that their success as a herd helps ensure our success as humans, we take care of them.

When I realize that your success as a human being helps ensure my success as a human being, I am more inclined to take care of you.

Because we are all dependent on each other and on the world around us.

That’s kind of wonderful, and kind of annoying.

Because we’d like to think that we can manage anything that comes our way by ourselves, thank you. But we cannot even manage the most basic of needs, hunger, by ourselves. At bare minimum, we need a plant.

For me to live my life, it takes plants and animals, thousands of unknown people who supply my everyday needs, my friends and family, even you who are reading this. I need you all. I need the homeless man on the corner, the immigrant woman trapped in poverty, and the abused child. I even need the squirrels who raid my garden. God connected us all. God made us all to need each other.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8.

Hug a tree, thank a plant, speak kindly to a crow, and love the people God puts around you. You need them, just as I need you.

Betsy

I am planting garlic this year. A friend I visited last summer had some in her garden, a bulb of which she pulled early for me to see. I was mesmerized. Just pull this aromatic, flavorful treat from the ground and use it in supper. I want to grow my own.

Unlike everything else in my garden, I am to plant garlic in the fall. After the worst of the heat; before the worst of the cold. You put it just barely in the ground, cover it with mulch or straw, and let it lie dormant for months. I am not to harvest it until mid or late summer.

In fact, if the garlic sprouts in the spring, I am to snip off the growth so all the nutrients can go to the bulb.

Each garlic clove will grow into a large garlic bulb. At least, that is the plan. Then, come summer, a top plant will grow. When it dies, the garlic is ready to be harvested.

I am intrigued by the garlic’s need to lie dormant in the ground. Obviously, the clove is not completely dormant in the ground, or it could lie on my kitchen table. The dark, dank blanket of nutrient rich soil is interacting with the clove. Though not visible, the clove is gathering what it needs for future growth.

Do we not have times like this in our lives? We may look dormant, but God is infusing us with His nutrient rich soil.

I have often wondered about Jesus in His twenties. When I was in my twenties, I thought I could and would change the world! Master of their domain, fearless, impervious to consequences, there is a reason the military wants 20-year-olds as soldiers. Although Jesus could and did change the world, he apparently spent His twenties as a small-town carpenter, unknown to the wider world. Dormant.

And Paul, before he wrote all those letters, wandered around in Syria. Dormant.

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. Galatians 2:1.

Fourteen years. I may have been tempted to give up my mission.

We often think about rest as something we do at the end of our work. On the seventh day, God rested. But when we wake up refreshed after a good night’s sleep, we realize rest is also something we need before we act.

Sometimes, maybe most times, we need to be at rest before we act. We need to lie dormant in God’s rich soil, letting His Word and His plan infuse our lives, preparing us to do exactly what he needs and wants us to do. This is not wasted time. God is preparing us, just as He is preparing that garlic clove for its growth next summer.

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. James 5:7-8.

Our culture has told us that if you are not moving forward, you are falling behind. But not all motion is progress; some is a spinning of the hamster wheel.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. Psalm 127: 2.

Because:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. Psalm 127:1.

Maybe God is calling you to rest for a while, soak up His Word, let His richness permeate the fibers of your being. When there is a house to be built, or a city to be guarded, trust that He will let you know and guide you on what to do.

Maybe I need to be like this clove of garlic and lie dormant for a while. Then, when God has adequately prepared me, I can be put to His use, making an aromatic, flavorful addition to the world.

Betsy

They sit by the back door expectantly, waiting for me to slip them on. Worn out, worn in, scuffed and muddy and comfortable, these are my garden shoes. These shoes are every bit as much a part of my garden as the fencing and the bird netting.

This morning I slipped them on as I headed to the garden. The yard, covered in dew, strewn with grass clippings, muddy with yesterday’s rain, riddled with thorny plants and industrious bees, can be a messy place. Inside my shoes, my feet are dry and clean and safe.

Without these shoes, dedicated to this less than glamorous role in life, either my feet would be in peril, or my fancier shoes would be.

Their appearance in no way diminishes their importance, quite the opposite. It is their worn out, worn in, scruffy, muddy, comfortable countenance that gives them value, makes them perfect for the role of garden shoe.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 2 Corinthians 12:24-25.

Has God assigned you a less than glamorous role in life? Are you worn out, scruffy, and covered in yard debris? Do you feel like an “inferior member?” Haven’t we all felt that way at some point?

Maybe your infant has just thrown up on your one clean shirt, or your mom has wandered down the street in her pajamas looking for the dog that died three years ago. Maybe the dishes have piled up in the sink and toilet backed up in the bathroom. Maybe your boss has trashed your work and told you to start again, again. Maybe your body has failed you, leaving only wishes with no option of action.

You have a very crucial role in the kingdom of God. You are every bit as much a part of God’s garden as the ministers and the missionaries.

In a large house, there are utensils not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some for ordinary. 2 Timothy 2:20.

And all are valuable. Could you imagine using your silver goblet to measure flour? The silver goblet may be shiny and precious and placed where all can see, but the plastic measuring cup is far more useful, more functional, more necessary, more important to daily life.

I wouldn’t wear my garden shoes to a ladies’ luncheon, but I depend on them.

And Jesus tells us that God values the less glamorous servants highly.

Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Mark 9:35. (Also Matthew 20:26, Luke 22:26.)

Maybe in the tables-turned, topsy-turvy Kingdom of Heaven, God will give my garden shoes the place of honor.

Maybe in the tables-turned, topsy-turvy kingdom of Heaven, God will give the parent, the caregiver, the housekeeper, the worker, and the invalid seats of honor.

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16. (Also Matthew 19:30.)

So, if you are feeling like a worn-out pair of garden shoes today, take heart. If we are following Jesus, He will give us the work He needs us to do, glamorous or not. His Spirit within us will make us “dedicated and useful to the owner of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21.)

My garden shoes wait patiently for me to slip them on. Just a little walk out to the garden, around and through it, then back inside. Job done; they rest. How happy these shoes make me, doing their little job so well. I do not see their age, their misshapen body, their dirty exterior covered in yard debris; I see their faithful, useful, service.

Well done, good and faithful servant, You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:21.

Betsy

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

I went out to the garden this morning to pull up the cucumber supports. It had rained in the past few days, and I thought they would pull up easily. Nope.

Dead vines were holding them to the ground. Weed roots wrapped around their bases. I could not simply pull them out of the ground. Back and forth I pushed the cages; pulled some up on the right, then on the left; wiggled it around some more; yanked on them with what little brute strength I have. Good grief!

Stick with it, Betsy, you can get them out. With a little self-encouragement, I persevered and got the cages out.

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance. Hebrews 12:1.

Sometimes, this is easier said than done, even if we are only talking about tomato cages and cucumber supports. Those support cages had spent the last 5 months living in that space. The desired cucumbers and the unwanted weeds had adapted to the cages’ presence and created a little home. Even though the weather had shifted, and the cucumbers had passed, those established connections were difficult to sever.

I have a deer head in my den, and one in my garage. I have never hunted. These were my late husband Nick’s deer. He was quite proud of them. At this point, I have adapted to them being there; they are just part of my home. Even though the weather had shifted, and he had passed, those established connections are difficult to sever.

Lay aside every weight.

Grief is a blanket that I sometimes wrap around myself. It is comforting and warm and smells deliciously of happy times. But it can be heavy on my shoulders. Next week would have been (will be?) our wedding anniversary. Putting aside the weight of grief is not something I can do quickly. I don’t even think I should do it quickly. Laying aside weights can take effort and energy and struggle, just like pulling those cucumber supports.

I didn’t pull all the tomato cages today. I still have two surviving tomato plants. Pulling up the cucumber supports took all the energy I had for the task. It was enough for today.

And it got me outside.

Between the garden and the lake, I spend a lot of my summer outside. As the garden needs less attention and lower temperatures discourage boating, I find myself indoors more. College and professional football entice me to stay on the couch. But the garden still needs my attention, at least until it sleeps for the winter.

And this is a gorgeous time of year to be outside. Cooler temperatures make work less draining. Bright blue skies lighten my mood; falling leaves fill the air with their earthy scent. Geese call out their presence as they fly in formation. Tinges of orange and yellow and red are visible on the trees.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah 6:3.

I am incredibly grateful that the most arduous tasks of gardening, the establishment of the garden and its demolition, take place in the most beautiful seasons of the year, Spring and Autumn. It’s as if God is rewarding these less glorious gardening tasks with a beautiful space in which to do them. And isn’t that often the way with God? As I go about the more mundane chores in my life, God often rewards me with unexpected joys and beauties, if I will look up and see them.

So, as I am struggling with the cucumber supports, wrestling them out of the ground, freeing them from their clinging vines, the geese call for my attention. The blue sky and wispy white clouds dazzle me. The breeze blows orange and brown leaves to my feet from a nearby tree. I can almost smell the crispness in the air.

If I had been able to pull the supports easily, I may have missed this beautiful gift from God. If I had decided the task was too hard and refused to try, I may have missed this gorgeous day.

Betsy