When I was in High School, SAT scores were of vital importance. I went to “prep” schools, which began preparing me for these tests in 7th grade. I sent my kids to schools that prepared them for the SATs and the ACTs, and offered AP classes. Detractors from this model of schooling rightly argue that the teachers are not offering a full spectrum of education, but are teaching to the test; they are teaching the students how to take the test and teaching only those things which are on the test.

While a valid argument, those tests are used to evaluate students, teachers and schools. We, as a society, have accepted the value system of the tests, so I wanted my kids to ace them. Even if you and your kids choose non-academic routes, there are still tests, and students need to prepare for them.

I recently spoke with a young adult who felt that the questions on the driver’s tests were not really relevant to good driving. Why did she have to learn that? Because she wanted to pass the test.

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us. 2 Peter 1:3

Knowing the standards to which we’ll be held; knowing what those with more experience say is necessary for us to know; knowing what is on the test and how to take it – isn’t that extremely helpful?

There are all kinds of things I don’t know. Most of them, I don’t really care about knowing. Those questions aren’t on any test I’m taking. This is probably offensive to those of you who value the information I am disdaining, but there are probably things I know which you don’t know, things that are important to me.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I Corinthians 2:2

It all depends on what test you are taking. It depends on who has developed the test; what they want you to know; what it takes to pass the test.

Some people want to pass a test of social importance, or wealth, or business success. Some want to pass a test of cultural knowledge, or fandom, or social media success. Whatever test we are trying to pass, my guess is that we are preparing for it. We are looking for teachers who can tell us what is on the test and how to take it, who will teach to the test.

Both I and my kids took SAT practice tests in Middle School. Many of the NFL players were in Pop Warner leagues. Travel teams are test prep for many successful athletes. High School sororities and fraternities prepare kids for social success. These practice tests teach us what is important to know, what we still need to learn, and how to improve.

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

In this season of Advent, this period of preparation for the coming of the Lord, I pray that we all find teachers who will “teach to the test” of faith in God: the Father, Son and Spirit. I pray we are ready for the test when it arrives. I pray God is preparing me and I am preparing myself for what lies ahead, the test I really want to pass.

In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith – being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. I Peter 1:6-7

God knows my name; I know He wants me to ace the test of faith. I pray I can make Him proud.

Betsy

p.s. It appears I have failed the technology test! I have just realized that I have not been posting my responses to your comments. I apologize. I have truly appreciated your comments and hope you continue to comment in the future. Now that I know how to post my responses, I will try to improve in this area. Please forgive what must have looked like unresponsiveness in the past. Thank you!

Has the Holy Spirit ever whispered in your ear? He has whispered in mine, reminding me of things, urging me to action, pulling me back. Sometimes when I am in the middle of an internal storm, tossed and tumbled and afraid, He has spoken a word that calmed the seas. If I weren’t a witness, I would find it hard to believe. But I have first-hand knowledge.

What I find amazing is that the Holy Spirit often uses words that were spoken long ago to other people in other circumstances. He takes these words and breathes new life and meaning into them. The Word of the Lord spoken to a paralytic, to Moses, to John or to Amos becomes the Word of the Lord spoken to Betsy, taking on a personal relevance often unconnected with its original intent.

Indeed, the word of God is living and active. Hebrews 4:12

When I was in my thirties, grief and shame overwhelmed me. How could I go to church, knowing the things I had done? Knowing how I had lived my life in my early twenties, wasn’t it hypocritical to go to a Bible study? Who was I kidding! God wouldn’t welcome someone like me. Certainly the other women in the group wouldn’t; perhaps they shouldn’t.

But then God spoke to me. “Arise, pick up your pallet and walk.” Jesus’ words to the paralytic in Mark 2. The Holy Spirit’s words to me. No longer paralyzed by my sin, I could and should and would move forward from that place; I would no longer make that spot of shame my resting spot; I would make my bed elsewhere. I could and did walk.

Over the years, the Holy Spirit has made many more verses come alive for me. A random word takes root and moves me. Last year during the Big Read (Read the Bible in 90 days), one verse jumped off the page as if God were speaking it just to me: .

You have circled around this mountain long enough, now turn. Deuteronomy 2:3

I find it interesting how much motion God’s call to us implies. This may be physical motion, but I think it is more likely that the physical motion represents spiritual and emotional movement. “Follow me,” “Go,” “I send you,” “I am the Way,” “Arise and walk.” Jesus even stops Peter from building a dwelling, a permanent stay-here structure, to honor Him (Matthew 17:2).

Emotionally, moving on, moving at all, can be difficult. We all have those moments which seem to define our lives, that we can’t get past, where we seem to reside. But God is about motion. “Go, leave this place” (Exodus 33:1), “Go into all the world” (Matthew 18:29), “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Jesus, God incarnate, was constantly on the move, with no home to call His own, no place to rest His head (Luke 9:58).

God does call me to stop moving sometimes, when my motion is futile or frantic. Several years back, overwhelmed by fear and grief after my husband’s cancer diagnosis and exhausted by the practical demands of surgeries and chemo and illness, I was near collapse. Then the Holy Spirit repeated to me what He once said to a long forgotten king:

This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf. Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.  2 Chronicles 20:17

So when you are reading scripture and sense what those on the road to Emmaus sensed, that (their) hearts were burning inside (them) … while He was opening the scriptures to (them) (Luke 24:32), know that the Holy Spirit is whispering in your ear. He is the Spirit of God. Jesus is the Word, the living Word. His Word still speaks into our lives – transforming us, healing us, urging us forward, pulling us back, calming the storm.

If I weren’t a witness, I would find it hard to believe. But I have first-hand knowledge.

Betsy

Somewhere in my youth, I got the impression that starting something was almost the same as ending it.

Find Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Have a child and your life is complete. Accept Jesus as your Lord and all will be well. Plant a seed and you will have fruit. Build it and they will come.

Most of us have learned that it rarely works out that way. Starting something is just the first step. A very important first step, but just a step. If you’re ever grown anything, you know this firsthand. Jesus was talking to an agricultural society when He said,

Other seed fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Matthew 13:9

They would have understood that there was a length of time and a lot of activity between falling on good soil and bringing forth grain. Somehow, I expected it to be instantaneous; the beginning being almost the same as the end. I just assumed that accepting Jesus as my Lord would take away my love of sinning, fill me with love for humanity, and overwhelm me with joy and peace. You know what they say about that word “assume.”

Because sanctification is a process. The Church has developed big words to describe the process of Christian growth – justification, sanctification, glorification. Basically, the Church is recognizing that the beginning is not the same as the end, and that there is a growth process between the two. Jesus used much simpler words:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way.” John 14:6

The way implies a path, implies movement and activity, a change in scenery. A path may be curving or straight, rocky or smooth, uphill or level. A path implies a distance between the start and the end – and Jesus is the way to travel on that path. And Jesus is the beginning and end of that path as well, the Alpha and the Omega.

Everything in life, in nature, teaches us about the growth process. A child is not born mature. Seeds transform into plants; caterpillars transform into butterflies; tadpoles grow into frogs. Science teaches us that the earth is constantly changing and the universe is ever expanding. Why would I think the Christian life would be any different?

Nick and I took a class based on the book Sacred Marriage, which asks, “What if God designed marriage to make us holy rather than to make us happy?”  What if God designed life to make us holy rather than happy? America has constitutionally enshrined happiness as a goal, and pursuing it a right. I wonder how different our world would be if Thomas Jefferson had stuck with “property,” or, better yet, inserted the word “holiness?” Would we be pursuing holiness as arduously as we seem to pursue happiness?

What if I were to look at everything in my life as a step along the path to a closer relationship with God? Would I be able to accept pain and grief and frustration as part of the sanctification process?

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 us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Accepting Jesus as Lord, recognizing His gift of forgiveness and reconciliation, is just the first step. It’s the wedding, the birth, the re-birth, the seed. Justification is an incredible gift, but there is still quite a journey ahead. There will be difficult times; we may actually be unhappy sometimes. But Jesus goes ahead of us and beside us and shows us the way.

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge if Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3

Have a wonder – full journey my friends.

Betsy

Sometimes gardening is ugly. I wish it weren’t. I wish I could just plant the seeds, tend the garden and have abundant fruit. In my memories, Nick and I have many years our gardens grew like that; but I could be choosing to remember the success and not the struggle.

It seems every garden since he passed away has been a struggle for me. This year has been no exception; a situation made even worse by my decision to share it all with anyone who would read along.

Failed crops, heat and drought, squirrels. Inertia, fear, doubt. Sometimes I dread going out to the garden for fear of what I may find.

Today I found yellow blossoms and tiny green tomatoes. Hope. God has not finished with me or my garden just yet.

These blossoms, these green tomatoes, they are a second chance for my garden, a second chance for me.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and sin no more.” John 8:11

“Second” chance might be a little self-righteous on my part. Three hundred and eightieth chance? So many chances, so many failures requiring additional chances, that perhaps I have become complacent. And yet, I want that fruit. The Holy Spirit within me wants to express Himself to the world; He wants me to bear that fruit as well.

And there are new blossoms and new green tomatoes. He is giving me new opportunities. I treasure these new tomatoes, even more than the ones that come six weeks ago. I fuss over them and baby them; check the bird netting, pull the weeds, talk to them.

I know it is God who is growing them. My gardening skills have proven quite inadequate. This is God’s gift to me – a second chance to have tomatoes.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 8:9

And it is only the failures, the thefts of fruit, that teach me how insufficient my own abilities are to produce beautiful fruit. How hard I work at it sometimes. Volunteer here, give there, write notes, send flowers, bring food – all good fruit; but if I am forcing these activities for appearance’s sake or other’s approval, these activities can be exhausting. I do not have the energy sufficient to continue in them, nor do they result in the garden I want to grow. I have to step back and let God grow these tomatoes.

It’s a hard lesson, learning to trust not in my own abilities and lean not on my own understanding. It feels rather unpatriotic. But God doesn’t want us trusting, relying on, or looking for help from anyone or anything but Himself. Not our government, not our IRA, not our allies, not even ourselves. These things are all good (or can be); and God provides structure and resources to enable us to further His kingdom, just as I provide structure and resources to enable my garden to grow.

But only God can grow a tomato. Only God is worthy of trust.

Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we will depend on the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7

And God is so gracious and patient with us, giving us second chances many times over. Seventy times seven, probably more.

Maybe that is why I do not remember the struggles of past gardens. Maybe I will not remember the failures in this one. Because there are beautiful blossoms on the plants, and little green tomatoes which fill me with hope and joy.

God has not finished with my garden yet. God has not finished with me yet. God has not finished with you yet.

Betsy

Come, follow me. Luke 18:22

Dealing with weeds is a never ending battle in the garden. Even the straw I covered my weed cloth with is growing grass. I can pull these weeds easily, because their roots are not in the ground, but they still divert water from the plants and, therefore, must go.

There is a time and place for grass, but it is not today in my garden.

Harder to pull are those weeds that are growing tucked up close to the plant, rooted in the soil with the plant. Sometimes, I can’t pull those weeds because doing so would damage the plant.

And what is a weed, really? By definition, a weed is just a plant growing where you don’t want it to grow. There’s nothing inherently bad about the plant; it is just growing where I don’t want it to grow. Some “weeds,” like dandelions, are quite beneficial.

So, while I sometimes think of weeds as “sin,” they are more analogous to distractions. This is the analogy Jesus made.

As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Luke 8:14

There is nothing inherently bad about the cares and riches and pleasures of life, just as there is nothing inherently bad about any plant, until they choke off the production of spiritual fruit in my life. I would even argue that there is a time and place for the cares and riches and pleasures of life, but they need to be secondary to God.

A garden is a space set aside, a weed-free place dedicated to the growth of fruit. My personal devotional time is also a space set aside, a concern free time dedicated to growing in the likeness of Christ.

Because we need to be alert to the cares of the world, we need to tend to our business, and we are called to enjoy the world. But these things are not to take top priority in our lives.

Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:31-32

I am amazed, in this land of plenty, how much of my time and money I dedicate to what I eat and drink and what I wear. Those weeds! I confess I let them grow up in my garden and I let them grow up in my life. I wonder what it would look like if I truly subjugated my earthly desires to God’s righteous ones, if I had a have a weed-free garden?

I have a sense that I will never know, at least not this side of heaven. I just have to go out regularly and weed the garden. I have to examine my garden and my life regularly and look for weeds. What concerns for wealth or image or pleasure are encroaching on my love of God? Where am I putting my wishes above the needs of others? Where am I letting those weeds grow up, and why?

Am I just too lazy to pull them, too comfortable where I am? Is that inertia whispering in my ear that God won’t really care if I let the weeds grow? God cares. He wants to produce beautiful fruit in my life, fruit that I cannot produce on my own. All He asks is that I give Him the time and space to produce it.

So today, I will go out to the garden and pull some weeds. It’s a good day in the garden.

I hope you are enjoying my garden as well. I appreciate your sharing this space with me and hope you invite some friends to join us.

Betsy

He has given us the power to become Children of God. John 1:12

I have to admit this: I don’t like to wait. I don’t even like to shop. If I need something, I get it. No reason to waste time thinking about it forever.

But that doesn’t work in the garden.

In the garden, I have to wait. I have to wait for the plants to grow. I have to wait for the fruit to appear. I have to wait for the fruit to grow and ripen. No amount of wishing or impatience on my part changes that.

Every day, I walk in the garden. I check on the growth, make sure they are getting enough water, correct and support the growth as needed, watch and wait. And wait.

The tomatoes are there. They are large and green. And still green. I wonder if impatience led to fried green tomatoes.

Waiting. It’s possibly the hardest thing to do, especially for us in the here and now. If we were servants, we would have to wait for our master’s command. If we lived in the millennia before digital communications, we would have to wait for information to arrive and for communications to be returned. If we lived in a time of austerity, we would have to wait to until something was available that we could afford. As it is, we live in a world besot with self determination, going for it, instant communication, immediate gratification, easy credit and over abundance.

Maybe waiting is difficult for you as well.

Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:14

If you read the Old Testament, waiting was never something that people found easy. Sarah couldn’t wait for Isaac’s birth, but had her servant conceive Ishmael; their descendants are still fighting. The Hebrews in the desert couldn’t wait for Moses to return, so they created a molten calf to lead them. They were impatient to get to the promised land. There are many instances of God asking His people to wait, and many instances of God’s people complaining about having to wait.

How long, O Lord? (Psalm 119:81, Psalm 13:1, Habakkuk 1:2, Psalm 71:12, Psalm 89:46)

But in a garden, you must wait; work while you wait for sure, but wait.

There is no point in complaining or fretting or getting anxious about how long it is taking the plant to mature. It just takes time. I just have to wait.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6.

What a lesson for life. Some things take time.

It takes time for those green tomatoes to turn red. Sometimes it takes time for me to forgive someone. It has taken a lot of time for me to not become angry when someone cuts in front of me. It may take time before God fulfills His promise to you. In the meantime, God calls us to have faith and wait.

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

So, be patient. Wait on the Lord. He is at work, even if we can’t see it. Have faith.

Fear not. Fret not. When the time is right, the plant will grow and bear fruit. When the time is right, the fruit will be ready.

And the good news is that, since patience is a fruit of the Spirit, your ability to wait for God to accomplish His plans is evidence of His fruit ripening in your life.

Take a deep breath, my friend, and enjoy your summer.

Betsy

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s work might be revealed in him.” John 9:3

I had my first tomato sandwich yesterday – delicious! There were several more tomatoes on the vine; I was so looking forward to picking, eating and sharing them.

This morning, they are all gone. Every one of them. Robbed. My guess is that whatever took them got under the bird netting and up and over the fence; probably a squirrel. Large enough to carry them off, small enough to not tear the cloth. I found a half eaten red tomato in the yard; I found no green ones.

Fortunately, I have planted indeterminate tomatoes, and I hope I will get new blossoms, new tomatoes. For now, the problem is preventing the predators from returning. I need to secure the netting and check my fence for openings. I need to search my garden for how the squirrel got through and correct the problem.

What I don’t need to do is get all upset about the lost tomatoes. It is in the squirrel’s nature to test any obstacles in its way. And the purpose of a test is to show us what we have mastered and where we need to improve. My netting is protecting the garden from the birds, but needs some work to withstand the squirrels.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless, indeed, you fail the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5

I had a dustup with a friend. It has exposed a gap in my spiritual netting. I am too busy justifying my actions to feel remorse, too offended to feel compassion, too self-righteous to humble myself. I have let the thief come in the night and rob me of the fruit of the Spirit. What I need to do is search myself and discover how I let that happen. Where are the gaps in the fence, the open spaces in the netting? How was I so easily robbed? I need to correct the problem.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

What I don’t need to do is dwell on the problem, stress over it, fixate on it. More important than the lost tomatoes is the realization that I need to fix my netting. More important than the dustup is the realization that I need to realign myself with God.

It is hard to let the past go. It is a challenge to not relive the mistakes we’ve made, the wounds we have inflicted, the wounds inflicted upon us. Dwelling on past hurts can easily consume our day. But the past does not need to determine who we are. Even the recent past. Whatever I did wrong yesterday, and I am sure there was plenty, does not mandate what my actions today will be.

Today is a new day.

I will water my garden and try again to protect it from robbers and thieves.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

God has given me this new day, and the promise of new blossoms. God has shown me I cannot manifest His fruit by my own abilities. I need God, and I need to be vigilant against my baser self or evil forces robbing me of the Spirit’s fruit.

Fortunately, God has also given me the ability to do just that.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. John 1:12

So I will not let the tomato robber end my garden. I will not let the peace robber end my spiritual journey. These are setbacks and disappointments; these are tests I have failed. But God has given me faith, and hope, and love. Thank You Lord!

Go in peace, dear friend; go in the peace of God.

Betsy

The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. John 14:12

We’ve had record heat this year for June, weeks of temperatures in the upper 90’s. My pepper plants are loving it. I can’t remember the last time I have had peppers in June, although it was probably ten years ago when we had a similar early heat wave. Usually I have to wait until July.

One year, we had to wait until August. We had had a very cool summer. It was mid-July and our pepper plants still had no fruit at all. We were worried. Was something wrong?

Nick talked to the man at the Agricultural center, and he explained that pepper plants need to be stressed to bear fruit. Heat is the main stressor for most plants. Although stressing the plant artificially was an option, he suggested just waiting; it was bound to get hot at some point. And, of course, it did.

Because as unpredictable as the weather can be year to year, month to month or day to day, we know there will be periods of “unseasonable” temperatures when it is too hot or too cold. There will be excessive rainfall and periods of drought. There will be storms. We just don’t know when.

As humans, we strive to insulate ourselves from these unpleasant situations. We have built ourselves protective homes; heating and a/c to moderate the temperature; comfy beds and chairs; TVs, PCs, i10s – escape on demand. But my garden is not that protected. My plants are dealing with the weather head on.

And the peppers are thriving.

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

Maybe we only produce fruit when we are “stressed,” when we are facing trials. Of course, it takes much less heat to stress a tomato plant than it does to stress a pepper plant, but it still takes some.

And who knows if my pepper plants are really “loving” this heat? They may not enjoy the stressful situation that encourages their fruit production. They may even resent being put in such a situation. But their fruit is a beautiful thing.

… knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. Romans 5:3-5

Do I love being in the situations that make me bear fruit? Can I show patience if I am never frustrated? Am I showing love and kindness if I only spend time with people I like? Will I bear the fruit of gentleness if nothing angers me?

Maybe we, like the plants, need some stress, need the heat of the summer to bear our fruit.

Maybe that heat reveals if we are bearing the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of our own selfish desires.

How am I reacting to the stress, to the heat? Because this has already been a very hot summer. This has already been a very stressful summer. And not just for my garden.

Just turn on the news for 15 minutes.

Am I bearing fruit? Am I bearing the Spirit’s fruit? Are you?

As a gardener, I look forward to the heat of the summer. The heat makes the plants produce the fruit I want.

I admit I rarely look forward to the heat and stress in my life. I rarely “consider it joy.” And yet, if it makes me produce that fruit, isn’t it a good thing?

And don’t forget that in order to survive and thrive in high heat, plants need even more water; and we need even more prayer.

Perhaps I will learn to welcome the situations which cause me to bear fruit, as I welcome the heat of summer.

My prayer is that you and I will bear much holy fruit this summer. Thank you for sharing your time with me.

Betsy

For in fact, the kingdom of God is among you. Luke 17:21

My tomatoes are ripening, it makes me so happy! The little green tomatoes have fattened and became light and lighter. Now they are turning pink. They stand out against all the green leaves, drawing my eyes to their difference.

But I am not the only one who has noticed this ripening fruit. The birds have noticed as well. They love to come and peck the tomatoes as soon as any rose hint appears. Are they drinking the juice? Attracting bugs for a more protein rich meal? Confusing it with a flower? Who knows? What I do know is they can destroy my tomatoes.

So every summer I go through the ridiculously laborious task if putting up bird netting. After several summers of losing our tomatoes to the birds, Nick erected a metal pole frame over which we could lay the netting. This at least keeps the plants from growing through the netting. The netting is almost invisible and catches on everything, even grass. Getting the netting unfolded, unrolled, and over the metal poles, which are taller than me, tests my patience.

And it’s not something I can do by myself.

But if this extra effort helps protect a bountiful harvest of fruit, then it is definitely worth the time and frustration.

Am I willing to exert that effort to protect my spiritual fruit from predators who aim to destroy it?

Because just as red tomatoes stand out against green leaves, your spiritual fruit will stand out against the background of worldly living. When you are loving when you have every “right” to be angry, when you are gentle when many would use force, when you are peaceful in a time of unrest, others will notice. Some will admire you and rejoice, but others will take advantage of you, apply more pressure, maybe even make you a target.

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but … against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly place. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to … stand firm. Ephesians 6:12-13

To make sure that my fruit continues to ripen unscarred and protected from those who would destroy it, I need to shield it with bird netting. I need to erect a barrier between my fruit, the evidence of the Holy Spirit in my life, and the world around me, a barrier that is almost invisible but keeps the fruit intact.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

Like putting up bird netting, renewing our minds is not a simple task. It can be time-consuming and frustrating. It catches on our emotions and knee-jerk reactions. We, I, often fall far short of what is good or acceptable, much less perfect.

But don’t give up. Keep at the task, because that layer of protection is the only way the fruit can ripen without being destroyed.

Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Hebrews 12:11

And it’s not something I can do by myself.

I need my church. I need my Christian friends. I need the Holy Spirit – after all, it’s His fruit that’s growing!

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. Ephesians 6:18

The tomatoes are turning red, displaying themselves to the world. It is a time of joy, but also a time when they need additional protection from that which would steal and destroy them. Put in the effort, my friend, and get that bird netting in place.

Thank you for reading this and sharing it with your friends. The world needs to see the fruit of the Spirit right now. I pray it is growing in your life, ripening for all to see.

Betsy

Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Cucumbers, like all their squash cousins, are rambunctious, exuberant, enthusiastic plants. The plants will grow to fill whatever space you have provided and then grow some more. Fences are merely obstacles easily overcome.

In our first garden, we planted winter squash because the plants were available. We had no fence on our terraced garden, so the squash grew into our yard, through the fence and into the neighbor’s yard. We ate squash until we were sick of it.

That first year, we planted the cucumbers next to the tomatoes. The cucumbers grew into the tomatoes and hung their fruit on the cages right beside the tomatoes.

Now, I plant the cucumbers alone, away from any other vegetable, and fence them in on all sides.

But a fence is not enough. When I walk my garden every day, I have to put the cucumbers vines back inside the fence. They are not very fragile, so I can manhandle them more than I can the tomatoes. I need to be just as enthusiastic as they are.

I love their enthusiasm. I can relate. I often feel like I am on the verge of being out of control, like I am testing the boundaries and going outside the fence. I am grateful that God sends His Spirit to corral my exuberance.

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. John 16:12

My ministers, my Christian friends, the Bible – all help me stay inside the fence, help me stay in right relationship, help my wandering thoughts to return to God and Jesus.

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

And you know what? This rambunctious, exuberant, enthusiastic attitude is exactly what makes cucumbers and their squash cousins such prolific producers of fruit. They have no fear, no timidity, no apparent caution. They just keep growing until a stronger hand moves them back into the fence.

I think God likes enthusiasm.

Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Romans 12:11

In John’s Revelation, only the church of Laodicea receives no praise.

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16

So grow with abandonment dear cucumbers! I will corral and correct your growth, just as God corrals and corrects mine. I hope that my enthusiasm makes God smile as much as the cucumber’s enthusiasm makes me smile.

I pray I can be as enthusiastic about serving the Lord, about growing in my faith, about becoming all that God has planned for me to be, as my cucumbers are.

But I also admire those hardy pepper plants. They grow up straight and strong and bear their fruit with pride. Growing between the tomatoes and cucumbers, I check on them every day, but rarely do they need anything from me except water. I’d like to think I could be like them, not needing correction and containment or even tender training, but God creates each plant differently and each person differently.

So whether you relate to the enthusiastic cucumber, the prized tomato, or the independent pepper, or even the fragile sugar snap, know that God values you. Praise God that He grows all kinds of plants in His garden. Praise God that He cares for each plant in the manner best suited to its particular needs. Please know that He values, grows, and cares for each of you as well.

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. Genesis 1:29

Keep growing, my friend!

Betsy

In Him all things were created. John 1:3