I am so proud of my garden! My garden this year has been through some "hard knocks" (or however you would write that) this summer, but they are fighters! I lost my first batch of plants to a great misunderstanding (I wrote my instructions wrong, and my lovely plant sitter gave everything 2 tablespoons of fertilizer every day for a month - needless to say they were fried). So these got a late start to the year.
The tomato plant almost completely died after having it in my possession for about 12 hours (close to the quickest kill ever), but was completely revived! Now I have many many green tomatoes growing.
AND I HAVE BANANA PEPPERS COMING IN!! I have only recently developed a taste for banana peppers (and pickles for that matter - no, I'm not pregnant). They have really made my Subway sandwich near perfection, and I'm excited to see what I can do with some home grown ones.
And I just saw a little bell pepper come in too!
I have really enjoyed watching these plants produce it's produce. And knowing I get fresh chives when I want them, and strawberries are possible to have, it's been a highlight to the end of my summer.
Why am I blogging about my garden on my baking blog? Well... it fits better here, and I might bake with them sometime. But more over, I wanted to share what God showed me with the plants today.
I was sitting on my couch thinking about how cool my plants are, and how
I'm proud of them like they were small children getting 100% papers and
a smiley sticker on their spelling test. I was just thinking about how excited I get when it
produces fruit. I don’t get angry at the plants when they don’t produce fruit
in my timing, but instead I wait in anticipation for when it come along. I get
excited when I see a new flower starting to open on it, because it’s the sign
of a potential tomato or pepper. And I rejoice at the growth it takes. Rushing
it won’t help anything – only the time it needs will do.
God is the same
way with us. He doesn’t get angry when fruit doesn’t come up in a certain time
frame – because He knows just what we need to see fruit happen. He doesn’t get
anxious to see the flowers turn to peppers or tomatoes. He simply rejoices in
what takes place, knowing that fruit will come and will be best in it’s timing.
All we need to do is abide in Him, and we will produce much fruit (John 15:5). But we can't expect fruit in our timing - only is God's. Don't beat yourself up, like I often do, when I think I'm not meeting up to God's standards. For the fact is we can't meet up to God's standards, that's why God sent His son.
Romans 5:6-8 says,
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
And Jesus said in John 3:16-18 says,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe
stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of
God's one and only Son."
See? Jesus has already taken care of the standard we couldn't take care of. If we truly believe in Him, then we don't have to worry about meeting the standard. We can instead can live in His power to produce what He desires of us. Here is another promise:
"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)
Isn't that good?! You don't have to worry about your growth. JESUS is in charge of it!
Here's the best one in my opinion:
"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through
whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)
