The First Tomato

We picked our first tomato of the season on June 19, it was an Early Girl. There are a couple of plum tomatoes ripening on the kitchen window sill – they dropped from the plant prematurely. I need to get out to the garden before it gets too hot today and weed – should have been out there already.

Yes, gardening is a lot of work, but the rewards are satisfying. Harvesting the fruit is work too, especially if we’re canning or freezing, but the rewards are satisfying. And it is always fun to give the harvest away, to have others enjoy the reward of work and attention.

When we give harvest away we don’t say, “Let me tell you about this produce. Here is how we built the raised beds (or tilled the soil). Here is how we amended the soil. Here is how many times we watered the plants. Let me tell you about weeding around this in the early morning, in the heat of the day, when I was tired and didn’t feel like it. Here is how we dealt with disease and harmful insects.”

No, we don’t tell people about the work that went into the garden when we give harvest away; we don’t tell people because of the joy of giving – we want the moment to be one of joy. Of course it’s nice when people later tell us that they enjoyed the harvest, that does give satisfaction.

Today was our first BLT, another milestone. The tomatoes are starting to come in, a couple here and a couple there. The Lord willing there will be days and weeks when we’ll have the counter lined with tomatoes and Vickie will be canning and making sauce. It is work, but it is also satisfaction.

Cultivating the Word of God in our lives is work too – don’t let anyone kid you about that. Constant weeding, no doubt about it. Sometimes life is dry, sometimes it’s refreshing; but we can have faith that the seed of God’s word is growing. The joy of giving God’s Word away, the Word that He produces within us – now that’s a joy that even surpasses the joy of giving ripened tomatoes away.