Tag: spiritual fruit

Compost

I am grateful for the tomatoes I picked earlier in the season because that is all I am getting this year. The blight has taken the rest of my plants, including the new ones. The ground is soggy from all the rain preventing me from taking much more action this late in the season.

My friend’s garden has yielded abundant large red tomatoes, but not my garden, not this year.

Failure is just a way of showing us where we can improve. A challenge; a test. My soil is damaged and I will need to intentionally restore it this fall.

To help the effort, I started a compost pile where the sugar snaps grew. I collect my non-animal food trash, add it to dead leaves and old straw, and toss them with a rake every few days. Our daily rains have kept the pile damp and moldering. The ever-growing combination of leaf litter, coffee grounds, straw, and vegetable waste will not only benefit the ground it’s on now but hopefully replenish the tomato plot when I move it there.

My original plan was to move the compost in September, but since my tomato plants are all dead or dying, I will move it in August. When I take down the fence in September, I can begin working the compost into the soil where I plant the tomatoes and let some clover grow.

There’s no guarantee that this will work. But if I am to produce tomatoes, I need to provide the plants with better soil. Like the gardener and the fig tree, I’m not willing to accept the failing crop.

Then he told this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. The gardener replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.” Luke 13:6,8.

Manure. Vegetable waste. Leaf litter. Refuse or worse. This is what the soil needs to enable the plant to bear fruit. Throw some s*** at it.

Yep, that may be what we need as well. It’s certainly not what we want. We don’t want to be mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed manure. We don’t want our lives uprooted and covered in cast-off trash and excrement. Even if that’s not literal, life can feel that way at times, and it is not fun.

But sometimes that may be just what we need. We may need to feel like we’ve been dug around. We may feel like all we get are the dregs. We may feel put upon and afflicted. We may be put upon and afflicted.

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 light and momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. 2 Corinthians 4:16-17.

We just need to have faith that God is doing something, something that will enable us to bear good fruit. We may need what is afflicting us, whatever compost has been tossed in our lives, to grow. Whatever gross, yucky, trashy, uncomfortable thing is going on in our lives right now might be just what we need. Faith says God knows what He is doing and that He will work all things together for good for those that love Him (Romans 8:28).

Failure shows us where we can improve. My soil needs improvement and replenishment. My life may as well. That may come from God digging around and adding manure to my life, just as I dig around and add compost to my garden. All in preparation for a bountiful harvest and the weight of glory.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Not a Bell Pepper

At the garden store this past spring, I bought two red bell peppers and one yellow bell pepper. This gorgeous pepper is not a bell pepper.

This has happened to me before. The plants look similar and are often returned by shoppers to an incorrect shelf. One year, the pepper we bought by mistake was so hot that we had to wash our hands after touching it. I think this is a Marconi, which is a sweet pepper, just not bell shaped. Of course, I won’t really know until I dare to taste it.

I am sure the plant had a little marker stuck in the soil to identify it. I even put those in the ground next to the plant. Only now, months later, it is not there. I can’t even blame the wrong plant on mislabeling. I may just have been too casual in identifying it. I may have assumed that since it was with the bell peppers, it was indeed a bell pepper. My bad.

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16

That is not a bell pepper. Being close to plants growing the desired fruit does not make it those plants, any more than the weeds growing in my garden are peppers.

Going to church on Sundays does not make you a believer. If you are a believer, that is certainly where you want to be, who you want to associate with, how you connect with the larger body of Christ. If you are a bell pepper, you want to grow in the garden with the rest of the peppers.

But our presence is not the final word. God wants more from us than just proximity. He wants more than just the appearance of right living. He wants a man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), a contrite heart (Psalm 51:17), someone who will love him (Matthew 23:37).

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5.

And if we do this, good fruit will follow. Because a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (Matthew 7:18).

I hope this is not bad fruit growing in my garden. I hope it’s just not what I was expecting. The truth will be in the taste, but I will let it grow for now.

It’s not unlike God to surprise us sometimes. I think He enjoys leaving us little surprise gifts, much like any parent wants to surprise their child with a treat. Or maybe He is encouraging me to be more alert when picking plants. Maybe He is showing me a pepper I will like better than the bells. Maybe He is teaching me that good fruit can look different from what I expect.

The plant is healthy. The plant is producing. The fruit looks like good, albeit unexpected, fruit. It may be a gift. I don’t want to pull it and discard the gift. I certainly don’t want to be found fighting against God because it was not what I expected (Acts 5:39).

When harvest time comes, when the pepper is ready to pick, the truth will be known. For now, I’ll pull only the weeds. I know they are not bearing any good fruit. I will let the pepper grow and see what God has in store.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Garlic Harvest

The plants were brown and brittle; it was time to harvest the garlic. With no effort, I grabbed the stiff stalks and pulled the bulbs from the ground. Some bulbs were noticeably larger than others, although I could not see much difference in the stalks.

That’s the tricky thing about root vegetables. It’s difficult to know the health or size of the root because we cannot see it through all the dirt. I had an indication that the garlic bulbs were growing because the plants sent up those amazing stalks and pincushion flowers. But I wasn’t sure they were healthy until I harvested them. They may have been moldy from too much rain.

The first root plants I grew, carrots, were a huge disappointment. Beautiful fluffy leaves, tiny sour carrots. You just don’t know until they are uprooted from the ground.

It’s got me thinking about the thief on the cross beside Jesus. I don’t know but I would have to guess that there was little if anything about his life up to that point which would indicate a good heart. Nothing that was visible or readily observable. In his own words, he deserved to be there on that cross.

And we indeed have been condemned justly. For we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:41-43.

That tiny bulb of faith, invisible to those standing there, was of value to Jesus. The man’s bad deeds were discarded like the brown stalks of my garlic plants. It may seem a little unfair to the older brothers who bore good fruit and followed the rules. After all, Jesus tells us that we will know a tree by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45, Matthew 12:33). This man’s tree apparently bore bad fruit.

If we must be honest, though, our tree probably does as well. We tend to hold the standards we find easy to meet and dismiss the standards which feel unobtainable. But by God’s standards, we all have fallen short. All of us deserve to be punished for our attitudes and probably our deeds as well. Perhaps, like these garlic plants, we have born no fruit at all.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9.

And that, my friend, is the good news. God pulls up the brittle stalks we show the world and finds the hidden bulbs of our faith. Some are large, some are small, all are treasured.

As long as we have breath, we can call out the name of Jesus like the thief on the cross. And Jesus, who already knows you and wants you to know him, will respond. He, unlike us, can see through the dirt and grime of our lives and see what grows in the darkness. He sees that bulb of faith.

And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6.

All you need to do is to plant that first little garlic bulb. That prayer, that scripture, that calling out to Jesus, that instant of belief.

Today, you will be with me in Paradise.

Love in Christ, Betsy

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

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

Fruit!

Like green candy dangling from the vine, the sugar snaps are ready to pick. Crisp and crunchy and sweet. What a joy to have this harvest while my other plants are still in their infancy.

This fruit is not a surprise. I planted and cared for these vines precisely for this purpose. But my plans and effort do not always yield fruit. There have been years when the seeds didn’t sprout, years when the plants struggled to produce, years when I have not been here to harvest the peas.

The lack of fruit in the past makes these peas taste even sweeter.

Like the first morning I woke up looking forward to the day ahead. It was more than a year after Nick had died. Covid was in full swing; the world was depressed, and I was just one more sad soul. I didn’t plant sugar snaps that year. I didn’t plant anything. But it was a gorgeous sunny day, and I was going to spend it at the lake, on a boat, by myself. And I was looking forward to it.

The warm sun, the gentle breeze, the chirping birds, and the ripples of water against the shore were a feast for the senses, a gift from God that had nothing to do with the presence or absence of others.

We try, in this life. We try to be faithful, we try to be good, we try to be kind and loving. We try to be successful, or wealthy, or popular. We try to be good parents and good friends. We plant seeds and hope that they will grow. We water and feed and support. And, sometimes, we think we have accomplished what we set out to do. Other times, the seeds don’t sprout, we aren’t fruitful, or we can’t enjoy our success when it comes.

And then God reminds us that He, and He alone, is the giver of all good things.

Do not say to yourself. “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth. Deuteronomy 8:17-18.

Occasionally, someone will taste one of my sugar snaps and want to grow their own. This is the best reward of all. You too can have this fruit in your life. It will take a little effort on your part, but it is so worth it. You will have failures and unproductive times, but when that fruit shows up, it is wonderful.

I pray the Holy Spirit bears such fruit in my life that others desire it and ask me how to grow it!

In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:15-17.

I crunch on another sugar snap and let the sweetness fill my senses. God is so good in His gifts to the world. Sunshine, water, fruit, hope, joy, peace, and something to look forward to.

I hope you step outside today, soak in the sunshine and breeze, listen to the birds and skittering animals, and sense God’s presence and love. I pray you take His seeds, plant them in your life, and bear sweet fruit to share with the world.

You can’t do it on your own. Only God can do it and only when you let Him. A great harvest awaits and the fruit is sweet.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Community

I have sugar snaps! The delicate white flowers have birthed tiny green beans which I will soon pick and eat. The temptation is to pick them immediately, but I need to wait. The fruit will be ready soon. My mouth waters in anticipation.

These sweet peas thrive when planted close to each other. When their tendrils can’t reach the supports, they cling to their neighbors who can reach the metal rungs. Together, they reach upward and capture the sunlight. I have had occasions when a single plant has grown apart from the others and it doesn’t fare as well. Maybe it has to do with pollination, but I don’t know. Pollination is not an area of gardening that I understand or consider much. I only know that my sugar snaps love to be in community.

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25.

And even as I am grateful for this fruit grown in community, I am thankful for the community around me that encourages the growth of fruit in me and provokes me to love and good deeds. I am thankful for an environment where I can openly discuss my faith, where the biggest risk I face is rolled eyes.

For years now, I have been praying for Christians persecuted for their faith. This past week I have been praying for people in the Maldives, an island nation where Christianity is forbidden. For the ones who come to faith in Christ, they will lose their jobs, their homes, and their families. They are imprisoned and often killed. In the Bible Belt, we talk about Jesus over beers on a Friday night and in our casual conversations at the grocery store. There are Bible studies and prayer gathering just about every day of the week.

What must it feel like to be the only person you know who believes that Jesus was God-made-man who came to save us from death and sin and reconcile us to the Father? Would I doubt my sanity? My belief would almost have to have come from a personal revelation since there are no Bibles or pastors or Christian homes and schools. Without the community to provoke me would I still feel the need to love those who persecute me? Would I still be able to grow and bear fruit?

There are plants that grow in sulfur-soaked waters at the bottom of the ocean. There are plants that grow in hot and waterless wastelands. There is faith that is born not because the environment is friendly, but because God is real and active in the world.

We can’t go to these places to encourage these lone believers, but we can pray that God will protect them and care for them and give them hope and love. As an aside, faithful men and women are always trying to infiltrate these areas of open hostility and share the love of God, not just with their persecuted brethren but with those who persecute as well. For more information, contact Voice of the Martyrs at www.persecution.com.

Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured as though you yourselves were being tortured. Hebrews 13:3.

Occasionally, I sense God talking to me, guiding me through His Spirit. I sometimes doubt my sanity when it happens. Voices in my head and all that. But God is real and active in the world. He can speak to people with such power that they are willing to give up everything, their homes, their families, their jobs, even their lives, to follow Jesus. What would I give up to follow Him?

Today, I thank the Lord that I, like my sugar snaps, live in a community which encourages my growth, pulls me ever upward, and provokes me to produce fruit. If the fruit is not evident today, it will be soon. My mouth waters in anticipation.

Love in Christ, Betsy