Category: Summer

When God grows our faith

Savor the Tomato

There are moments when life just feels a little overwhelming, when it feels hard even though I know it’s not. There are moments when I doubt what I am doing and why; when I wonder if I am just a happy hamster running around and getting nowhere.

But then, like a pot of gold at the rainbow’s end, I have ripe tomatoes. The birds did not get them; the squirrels did not get them; the blight did not get them. Red, ripe tomatoes grown in my back yard. They are almost too precious to cut into and eat, but I do. Uneaten, they will rot on the counter and that would be too great a waste.

I eat the smaller ones like an apple. They are tangy and juicy and taste like summer. The smell reminds me of my grandparents and my husband. I sense a connection with a long line of ancestors who grew their own food. This is how food should be. A reward for effort and diligence, a gift that grows through God’s miracle of seed and transformation, connecting me with the earth in a way that the ones on sale at Kroger can’t.

I slice and eat the large tomato on white bread with mayo and salt. I only eat white bread with tomatoes and cucumbers in an effort not to overpower their flavors with the flavor of the bread. There is something of childhood in the soft squares of white bread, a simplicity lost in the multigrain, nutty, textured bread I usually favor.

It’s a lot of emotions for lunch.

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.” God saw everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good. Genesis 1:29,31.

Too often I go through the motions. I do what needs to be done without much thought. I lose myself in a book or a movie. I eat the food in front of me and talk to the people around me and remember very little of it. This simple meal of homegrown tomatoes reminds me to be fully present in every moment as I am in this one.

This food, these people, these tasks have meaning and purpose. Their stories are the culmination of generations of stories. Our interactions are woven into a tapestry that will ripple through future generations. Don’t breeze through it; don’t let it pass without giving it your attention. Somehow, the simple act of savoring this one tomato sandwich has slowed time for me, infused this moment with meaning, and shown me a purpose in my actions. I work in the garden so that I can savor this sandwich. I write this so perhaps you can savor this moment as well.

We are all so beautifully connected and interrelated, with each other, with those who came before us and those that will come after us, with the earth and everything on it. This moment may only be a drop of rain in a torrential storm, but without the individual drops there would be no rain at all.

I give thanks to God for this moment, this tomato, this opportunity to share His wonders with you. It is indeed very good.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. Psalm 103:1-2

Love in Christ, Betsy

Leap of Faith

Oh, these enthusiastic cucumbers! Provided with easy access to climbing trellises, they instead reach for the fence and once secure there, leap into space, fully expecting to find something there.

I am a little frustrated that they aren’t as obedient as the tomatoes that grow peacefully withing their prescribed area. But, for the most part, I admire them. Just because the trellis is there doesn’t mean it limits their growth. They are secure enough to try new things, branch out (literally) into new territory, take a leap of faith. The structure is there if they need it, but who knows what new avenues may be available?

Perhaps they know at some level that if their wanderings get too out of hand or become dangerous to themselves or other plants, I, as the gardener, will corral them back into the garden space.

Perhaps we can have the faith of a cucumber as well.

The structure of the church is a good thing. It keeps us grounded in Biblical tradition and the wisdom learned by those who went before us. But that structure is a trellis and not a cage. Listen to your spiritual leaders but take everything to God in prayer. The Holy Spirit lives in believers and is there to remind us of scripture and lead us to truth. Anyone who reads the Bible regularly in a spirit of prayer knows that God reveals different things at different times through the same words.

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12.

The word of God may encourage us to make a leap of faith. It could be that what we have heard said is no longer the standard; Jesus may be giving us a new and better one. (Matthew 5:21-48). We may love our spiritual leaders and appreciate the structure they provide for our growth, but Jesus encourages us to do more than recite their beliefs. He calls us to listen to Him, to God, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit. He wants us to put our faith, not in the wisdom of those around us, but in Him and Him alone.

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. John 14:25-26.

I have faith that The Holy Spirit will correct my thinking if my wanderings go too far or become dangerous to my faith or the faith of others. God wants me to grow and bear fruit. He has put this desire in me, to reach, to grow, to take the leap of faith, to move forward even when the support is not obvious. Perhaps he has put that urge in you as well.

Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10.

Is there something you have always been told that may need rethinking today? Ask God’s Holy Spirit to open your heart to the scriptures and take a leap of faith.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Fruit and Blight

Long gone are the icy mornings and barren grounds of winter. If the calendar and the heat didn’t prove it, these tomatoes would.

One of the benefits of growing cherry tomatoes is how quickly they ripen. My larger tomatoes are only light green now. These will slowly turn pink and then red, but it will be weeks. But these little beauties are ready to harvest now.

To plant something and actually produce food is amazing. Yes, you expect plants to produce when you plant them, but there are so often complications. The weather, the soil, predators, and storms often interrupt your plans and limit what grows. These lovely little red tomatoes validate the work. Clustered like grapes and sweet to the taste, they will brighten my meals for days.

Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty, Let anyone with ears, listen. Matthew 13:8-9.

Not all my soil is good. A problem has been brewing for years, and I have been ignoring it. Instead of the problem going away, however, it has gotten worse. Tomato blight. There are several different forms of this, but they are all based in the soil. There are diverse ways to combat tomato blight, most of which need to occur post-season.

For now, I am going to dig up my dead plants and the soil around them and put new dirt and new plants in the ground. The harvest will be late if this works, but at least I will get tomatoes.

In a “perhaps my husband knew best” nod, one of the main ways to reduce tomato blight is to let the ground be covered in clover during the off season. I have abandoned Nick’s practice of tearing down the fence and letting the garden go to grass over the winter. (In my yard, the ‘grass’ is predominately clover.) I stopped this practice to avoid tilling every spring, which is considered harmful as well. But the presence and frequency of blight have increased every year in my no-till garden.

Crop rotation is another option. As I am hoping to alter my garden space this fall, that may be the cure, but all of these are solutions for next year. For now, I will need to try a short-term fix in hope of recouping my lost plants.

All of which makes these little beauties an even better treat.

Amid the blight and dying plants, these tomatoes are bearing fruit. They are not letting the death of the larger tomato plants over there limit their growth or production here where they are. I can learn something from this.

No longer is the soil of our world conducive to bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it never has been. Kindness and gentleness are as rare as red tomatoes in a blighted field. On the other hand, what a treat when we see them! What a witness to the better way, to peace and love and joy, to the presence of God. We may be living in the time of Judges, when everyone does what is right in their own eyes, but we can keep our eyes on Jesus and bear the Spirit’s fruit.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22.

Join me in renewing my soil today so we can bear fruit. Such fruit is bright and cheerful and sweet and beneficial to the world.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Garlic Varieties

I planted a different kind of garlic this year than I have in the past. These are hard neck garlic instead of soft neck. I didn’t understand the difference until I grew them. After all, garlic doesn’t have a neck, right?

They could be called hard stalk and soft stalk, because these plants look quite different from my previous plants. This garlic is growing tall on stems that are as hard as bamboo, with fat white buds that are opening to fluffy purplish flowers. My others waved like tall grass, bending in the slightest breeze.

But as different as this plant looks to my eyes, both plants are still garlic. What makes them garlic is not the stem strength or the presence (or absence) of a flower. What makes them garlic is what is growing out of sight underground.

I know this because I planted them.

Could God be showing me something here?

How quick I am to judge those whose expressions of faith look different from mine. How quick others are to judge me. Do you raise your hands and jump about? Do you sit silently in your pew with your hands in your lap? Do you only listen to Christian radio? Do you watch church online or on the television? Do you preach the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14) or that Jesus came for sinners (Mark 2:17)?

Unlike me, God knows what He planted. He knows the important part of our faith may be hidden in the dark underground, in the secret moments of our lives. Outwardly our faith may look quite different, but God sees the heart.

Perhaps it is not how we express our faith that is important in the end, but that our faith is growing deep withing us.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearances, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7.

As mortals, we look at appearances. In the seventies, a question went around – “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Do you attend church? Is your Bible dust-free? Do you help the needy? Do you know praise music lyrics? We want that external evidence. We fret a little when our external evidence doesn’t look like other people’s. We fret when their faith doesn’t look like ours.

I’m not fretting over my garlic. I know what is growing in secret. The external evidence, as different as it may be, still indicates that something is growing. Hard neck, soft neck, flower or no flower, garlic is growing.

So that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. … But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you…. So that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:4, 6:6, 6:18.

I urge you today to rejoice in the variety of ways God allows us to express our faith, to share His love for us with each other, and praise Him. He knows what He planted. Let us help it grow, knowing that it grows in secret.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Crabgrass and Bunnies

I awoke this morning feeling a little overwhelmed by life. Too much to do; too little time. Problems that need addressing; problems too large for me to address. Some days are like that. Some weeks, even years are like that. What is the point, really, of even getting out of bed?

Of course, I do, and early. Too much to do and too little time. Even during my devotional, I have one eye on the clock and grapple with the guilt of that.

And then I step outside to walk my garden. What an absolutely marvelous morning!

Yesterday’s rain sucked all the humidity and heat from the air, leaving a crisp coolness rare for June in Tennessee. The yard is thick and spongy. Bunnies twitch their ears at me and continue munching clover. The creek bed runs clean, stripped of the muck that can settle in it. There are tiny green figs and larger green tomatoes. The sun casts mosaic patterns on the yard as it warms the earth from behind the trees. Everything feels alive and glorious.

I was going to write about the ever-present crabgrass. Those emotions and hidden resentments that burst out through an unprotected space, that selfishness that reacts in anger at frustrating problems and too much to do. Sometimes, when I look at my garden, that is all I can see – the weak spots where the crabgrass flourishes.

Sometimes when I look at my garden I don’t see any of the good things there, just my failures and what more I should or could do. Sometimes all I see is crabgrass.

And then, like a gracious gift from a loving God, there is a morning like this morning.

Invigorated by the cool air, I pull the crabgrass away from my fledgling fig trees and from the edges of the tomatoes. An easy task accomplished to the serenade of a mockingbird. A small butterfly darts among the plants, and a buzzing lets me know that bees are near.

Barely ten minutes have elapsed when I return indoor, a new and revitalized person. What a gift to have demands on my time, people I want to see, people who want to see me. How blessed I am that I am frustrated by no longer being able to start my car remotely. Talk about a first world problem!

What a gift it is to step outside my home and find myself confronted with nature. Sure, sometimes it’s hot or stormy or bitterly cold. Sometimes there are trees down and plants missing and crabgrass pushing through the edges. There will always be something that is not perfect, something that needs doing, some problem I need to address. That too is a gift. A purpose, a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the tumult of the peoples. Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. Psalm 65:5-8

What a wonderful world God has made. We so often sully it with bickering and jealousy and hidden resentments and fears. It is easy to take our eyes off the beauty and only see the ugly, only see the imperfect, only see the crabgrass. Jesus calls us to a better way.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8.

Love in Christ, Betsy

See the Bright Side

Something has taken three of my cucumber plants. Not nibbled them or broke their branches but taken the entire plant from the ground.

There are several possible culprits. Squirrels are always my first choice for the bad guys, but it’s not their usual method of destruction. It’s not really deer behavior either. It seems more like something a raccoon would do, and they definitely live in my yard. I suppose they could have climbed the fence, but they never have before.

Even more confusing is that they have taken the plants on three separate occasions. What animal has suddenly developed a taste for cucumber plants?

I could get upset about this, but I am choosing not to. Instead, I am trying to see the bright side of this development. Gardening gurus tell me that I should stagger plant my cucumbers, that is, plant a few, wait a few weeks, plant some more, wait, plant – therefore ensuring a longer harvest period. I have always ignored this advice and planted them all at the same time and harvested them all within a few weeks.

This year, for reasons beyond my control, I will be following their advice.

Sometimes, we just need to learn things the hard way. And it makes me wonder what other things God has had to teach me the hard way. Either because I would not follow advice, or because some lessons can only be learned through living through the situation.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4.

Now, that is looking on the bright side!

Perhaps I am growing into this approach to trials. I am not upset about the lost cucumber plants, but grateful for the (albeit forced) opportunity to stagger-plant. The disappointing lack of publisher interest in my fiction writing has pushed me to concentrate on a new devotional. A theological shift in an old group has led me to discover a new group that encourages me to question and grow in my faith. Sometimes trials draw us closer to a personal God, a redeeming Christ, a sustaining Spirit.

And if our goal truly is to become more Christ-like, if we truly are seeking the Kingdom of God first, then anything that furthers that end is a gift, a blessing, a cause for joy, even if not for giddy happiness. And this could be true for more than just stolen cucumber plants. This could be true for chronic disabilities, sudden health scares, the loss of friends and loved ones, disruptions of all shapes and sizes.

So, we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. 2 Corinthians 4:16.

I encourage you today to look on the bright side of whatever trial you are facing. An ailing parent, a struggling child, discord among friends, physical limitations, daily frustrations, cosmic fears, or garden thieves.

Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Kind Words

A perfect morning. The sun shines in a clear blue sky. The grass is wet with dew. The ground is damp with yesterday’s rain. It’s 75 degrees at 7:30 in the morning. Perfect.

No harvest this morning. The sugar snaps are gone, and the rest have yet to produce. No “work” to be done, no harvest needing attention. Just a restful, beautiful morning to bask in God’s marvelous creation.

I congratulate the plants on their progress. What large new leaves the fig has grown, how healthy the oregano looks, and a tiny green pepper – congrats!

The evidence that talking to your plants helps them grow isn’t conclusive (Penn State Study), but it can’t hurt. They are living things that respond to their environment. I sense that they know that I care how they are doing. I check if their limbs need support and gently lift them onto the cages. I pull a few random weeds and try to make their environment as conducive to growth as possible.

I sense I should be doing this for the people God has put in my life as well.

Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, as indeed you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

Paul repeats this exhortation in Romans 14:19, Ephesians 4:29, and 1 Corinthians 14:26. The writer of Hebrews encourages us to meet together and encourage each other (10:24-25). This seems to be an important part of Christian living, and yet we need constant reminding to do it because we so often fail at it.

Some mornings, I don’t walk in my garden. It will be fine without me. Some Sundays, I don’t go to church. Some days. I don’t check on my friends who are hurting. Surely, they will be okay for a day or two without my interference.

Sometimes, when I do gather with friends, I am more focused on what others are doing wrong instead of what they are doing right. Usually, that is someone or a group of people who is not present with us. We bemoan what “they” are doing, all the people who have it wrong, who don’t agree with us. On occasion, I have been known to criticize someone I am with, in love, of course!

I rarely criticize my plants. (I would say ‘never,’ but I can’t be sure about that!) If they are struggling, I help them. If they need water, I water them. If they need support, I provide it. Gentle words of encouragement and praise. I don’t recall ever complaining about the cucumbers to the tomatoes, or vice versa, although they grow very differently.

Are you not a precious plant growing in God’s garden? You will grow differently than me. You will look different, act different, respond differently. You may bear different fruit. God may have given you a very different purpose for your time on this earth than He gave me.

But as it is, God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 1 Corinthians 12:18-21.

Instead, perhaps, we should be congratulating those who express their love for God differently from us – on their faith, their determination, their growth, and their evident love. Perhaps, we can learn to trust that God will produce in them the fruit He desires, just as we trust that He will produce that fruit in us.

And if I only spoke words of love and encouragement to those around me, what a beautiful day every day might be. It might even be perfect.

Love in Christ, Betsy

The Shift

No matter what the calendar might indicate, summer is here. School is out, the pools are open, Memorial Day is over, and the sugar snaps have succumbed to the heat. It’s summer.

I had a good sugar snap harvest this year. Not my best but far from my worst. It was a little warm and dry for these plants, but the peas were sweet and crunchy and enough to share.

I could be sad about my brown and brittle plants. It would be wonderful if they could grow and produce all summer, but that is not what sugar snaps do in Tennessee. They grow in the Spring, they produce in May, and they die when the temperatures get into the eighties. Instead of being saddened by their relatively short lives, I am grateful for their delicious fruit and the joy of the harvest that they brought me.

Already the rest of my garden is calling for my attention. Leaves cover the fig and the raspberry. The tomato plants grow taller by the day. I have already picked basil leaves, and the garlic is beginning to mature. The garden continues to grow and produce.

After my husband died, I found it disturbing that the world continued. I suddenly understood the old practice of stopping the clocks, covering them even. If you can’t turn back time and bring your loved one back, at least you can try to stop it from moving on. Because you don’t want to get over their death. You don’t want it to be true, and the longer you live with the reality of their passing, the truer it becomes.

But while the sugar snaps are dead, the garden is not. I am coming up on the seven-year anniversary of Nick’s death. Time has continued. New plants have grown in my garden; new interests, new friends, and new hobbies have arisen to fill my days. Maybe even one day, romance may resurface, although I am not planting those seeds and am not ready for it to appear.

I sense the shift, though. Ever so slowly, I am turning my attention from the brown and brittle hurt of loss to the green and growing life around me. The lake beckons. My children and grandchildren thrive. My friend group expands. I find myself going to new venues to hear live music. I am learning to blend the old things and the new things.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1.

I still twinge at the thought of moving on though. I still love my husband. I still miss him. But the hot weather that kills the sugar snaps makes the tomatoes and cucumbers grow. And their fruit is delicious as well. The garden has taught me that different fruits require different environments, that not all fruit appears at the same time, and that good things can grow under any circumstance. This is true in the garden; this is true in life.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.

And summer can be a glorious time, full of play and water sports, and vacations, and a break from routines. Summer is a time for beach reads and family reunions, travel and sitting by the water. Summer is a time for red tomatoes and purple figs, cucumber sandwiches and fresh raspberries.

Join me in the shift. Let’s turn our attention from grieving the loss of what was to celebrating what is and what will be.

Love in Christ, Betsy

A Little Change

I made a little change in my garden to solve a nagging problem. Change can be hard, but what if God is calling us to do just that, change?

I’ve had a problem with my lawn service this summer. They come when I am not home. And their mower sprays grass clipping all over my garden plants.

If I were home when they were mowing, I would ask them not to do this. I’m not sure why this is even so much of a problem this year since it hasn’t been in the past. Perhaps they have a new mower, but the problem may be mine. Since I did not pull up all my landscape timbers last year, they have sunk lower into the ground. Several of them are rotting away. The accumulation of grass clipping has hastened this process.

I could text my mower about the problem. I considered replacing all the landscape timbers. But I decided instead to edge the garden with a taller “clipping barrier.” Of course, the stores don’t carry foot-tall edging, so I had to order a trial sample to see if it would work. I like the look.

This edging may help with critter control as well. It’s different. Time alone will tell if it’s better.

My daughter, who works with ministry innovators, often writes about how change often happens slowly, develops through necessity, and occurs when we are focusing on something else. I look at my garden as the sixth summer without my husband draws to a close and I see change.

The bones of my garden are the same. Same poles, same fence posts, same location. But I no longer dismantle it; I no longer let the garden return to grass every year. I have perennial fruit trees and herbs. I pay helpers to assist me. And now I have foot high edging. I am adapting, slowly, by necessity, to gardening without him.

All in an effort to bear fruit.

There’s a lot of discussion about change in the church. When is change necessary to bear fruit for God and when is it conforming to the world? Jesus was an agent of change. He ate with simmers, broke sabbath laws, and overturned the tables in the temple.

The pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered, “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 to repentance.” Luke 5:30-32.

The established church leaders didn’t like the change. And Jesus didn’t stop at changing the status quo. He sent the Spirit to live within us and change our focus, our attitudes, our actions, and our lives. He takes our established garden and slowly transforms it into a more gracious, more loving, more fruitful place.

Several hundred years ago, women who used herbs to cure ailments were considered witches. Now it’s a multi-million-dollar business. Most Christians have no qualms putting aloe on a burn, drinking chamomile tea to relax, or taking garlic to reduce cholesterol. Some Christians even advocate turning away from established medicine to more homeopathic remedies. They should be grateful the church no longer labels them witches for this.

Is God calling you to make some changes this fall?

Perhaps minor changes like a better edging around your garden space, a more sacred quiet time alone with the Lord, a more intentional effort to keep the litter at bay.

Maybe He is calling you to make a radical change, eat with sinners and social outcasts, try an herbal remedy, go against established church tradition.

I pray that God will always keep me open to the changes He calls me to make. I pray that He will continue to call me, sinner that I am. And I pray that He will bear His fruit in my life and in yours.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Hope in a Raspberry

I step outside and breathe in the cool morning air. I shiver at the breeze, and the dew is almost cold on my feet. Such a change from the scorching temperatures of only a week ago. It feels like a gift.

I had a tough weekend. I went to a writer’s conference at which my book-in-progress was a finalist for an award. Not only did it not win, but it was also trashed in critiques sessions and firmly rejected by agents. I tell you this not to generate your sympathy, but because sometimes life is like that. We do our best at the time, but sometimes it is just not good enough.

I came home wondering if I could do better or if I should abandon this pursuit. How much effort do I continue to put in this garden when it is not bearing fruit?

These were the thoughts that swilled in my head when I stepped outside. The unexpected chill brought me out of that inner world and into the present.

It is a beautiful morning. Wisps of white clouds stretch across a Carolina blue sky. Birds sing and a bumble bee searches the flowers on my aging cucumber vines.

I’ve taken down the bird netting and pulled up the dead tomato plants. Most of my garden is ready to rest, tired from a fruitful summer. But not all of it.

The basil still grows, and I snip off the tall blossoms and inhale their sweet scent. My entire body smiles at this gift. The smell of fresh basil overpowers my sense of failure, and all the negative words fade away. What a simple and beautiful gift this tiny plant is.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:15.

I lift my eyes in praise for this heavenly aroma and there, on the tips of my raspberry bush, are bright red berries. I was told not to expect fruit this year and was surprised by a few berries in the spring. I am even more surprised by these berries in August.

I have not paid attention to my raspberry bush this summer except to trim it back as it expanded into the yard. Without my notice, this plant had generated new life and now displays its fruit to the world.

Unexpected fruit. I had put the plant in the ground and kept it alive, but beyond that, this raspberry bush is simply doing what it was created to do – grow and bear fruit. No one is teaching it how to do this or telling it if it is doing it well or poorly. The bush is not waiting for another’s affirmation. It is not trying to solve world hunger. It is absorbing the heat of the day and the cool of the morning and bearing fruit.

This is something every one of us can do.

An old saying reminds us that the world would be a quiet place if only the birds with the best voices sang. And the world would starve if only the best plants produced fruit.

I pull off the red berries and eat them on the spot. Sweet and tender, they nearly dissolve on my tongue. This fruit may not be changing the world, but it is changing my world this morning.

Refreshed, I return to my office and start to type. I do not need the world’s affirmation to do what God has put upon my heart to do. I need simply to do it and let Him use that fruit however He sees fit.

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

God is so good.

Love in Christ, Betsy