TABLE SALT: Plant to produce

My grandma always planted and maintained a huge garden. She grew cabbage to make cabbage rolls for her church auction, raising money for missions. Juicing tomatoes for the cabbage rolls and whole tomatoes for soups, she planted a plethora of plants. Wax beans and green beans were canned for the winter and stored away for making funeral meals that she would host at her church should the occasion arise. Sweet corn, lima beans, onions, and potatoes. Oh my. Peas in a pod would fill the bushes. I recall my thumb being terribly sore after using them to break the pods open for hours at a time. Planting, weeding, watering, and maintaining is a big time commitment and not one many are willing to make. 

When August rolled around, many locals entered their garden produce in the judging contest at the fair, vying for a blue ribbon. While my grandma rarely entered garden products, she did often enter baked goods. However, my grandma’s neighbor would ask to pick my grandma’s vegetables to be a contender in the fair herself. My grandma didn’t mind if her neighbor used her produce for the competition. It didn’t seem quite right that someone would use someone else’s hard work in a contest. As I visited the garden products in the horticulture hall this week at the Miami County Fair, I reflected back to my grandma’s garden. 

Our own walk of life has many similarities. When God returns and calls His followers to their eternal home, we won’t be able to pick produce from someone else’s garden. It will be our own garden that God looks at when He judges our life. Did we forgive others? Did we share and give with no strings attached? Did we love with no judgment? Did we live fully for Christ?

Today, plant your garden with all the goodness of God. Tend your personal relationship with the ultimate gardener. Weed out the world and water your heart with the word. What you sow, you will reap. Once God says it’s time, you will be forced to face what you planted, not receiving help from your neighbor. Plant grace, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and understanding. 

“The seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” Luke 8:15. 

Contact Ashley at ashley@tippgazette.com

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Tippecanoe Gazette

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