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.
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