Lessons from the Garden

I've been growing tomatoes for two years now. From my first attempt last year, I learned that I'm not a very patient gardener. But there are other lessons that I learned this year that, surprisingly and interestingly enough, can be applied to my spiritual faith. Hmma gave me Scouting the Divine for some leisure reading and through the book, i was able to get further insight to my feeble attempts at gardening.

This year, I switched over from full meaty tomatoes to cherry tomatoes. Being someone who likes to see results and wants it nearly immediately, I figured that if the tomatoes grew smaller, then I'd have results faster (i obviously didn't fully learn from the lesson of impatience!). Also, having done some research, the fact that the tomato breed i selected grew in large numbers appealed to me - it was possible for thousands of cherry tomatoes to grow from one plant if grown in the correct way. I was growing these tomatoes out of containers which probably wasn't the "correct" way but to me, that was besides the point. The point was there was potential for ONE tomato plant to produce THOUSANDS of tomatoes!!! As i was sharing all this insight with Hmma, he reminded me that even if these tomatoes can grow in large numbers, i should consider pruning the plants to make sure the tomatoes that are produced are of high quality -- extra juicy, full of flavour and rich in nutrients. I said, yes yes yes, i will prune. And i did. But apparently i didn't do enough of it. or i tried but those plants were crazy insistent on producing more buds. So the first batch of cherries that i picked from my plants -- the first fruits of my harvest - were especially tastey. They were super sweet and juicy and such a lovely dark red! I had a hard time eating the fruits of my labour -- and an even more difficult time sharing my first fruits with friends (who, i knew, probably didn't appreciate the fullness of my labours to produce that fruit). I noticed the tomatoes produced near the end of the season seemed to be lacking in flavour and colour. If i am fully honest, wasn't this most likely a result of poor pruning? And perhaps poor (greedy and neglectful) gardening on my end?

As i reflect on my experiences with the tomato plants this year, i realize that i am a bit of a naive gardener and even take the whole process for granted. I could combine the best soil, pick and buy the best looking tomato seedling to plant, water, fertilize and "prune" as much as i thought was best, but the plant still needed sun to grow. The weather conditions is something i have absolutely no control over. Part of the equation of "success" in growing tomatoes is entirely out of my hands. there is so much to learn and apply in my life with just this simple realization. God is in ultimate control of my life whether i acknowledge this fully or not. Sometimes, i can do everything in my own power and still fail and sometimes that realization is absolutely frustrating. Sometimes, i can do everything in my own power and have amazing results and rejoice over the success - but who do i attribute the success to? Often, only to myself. If i'm humble, sometimes I might say it was "lucky". Have i acknowledged and given credit to God for the conditions he provided to allow me to thrive? Rarely. Without the sun, my tomato plants would not have grown successfully. And in the same way without the proper conditions that make up my life -- my family background, my place of birth, my education and all the opportunities that i was exposed to -- I don't believe I would have been able to achieve the success that i have today. And just as the sun is controlled by God, i believe the conditions of my life that I had no choice over, is also something controlled by God.

This summer was extremely hot and sunny in the Pacific Northwest and as a result, the firstfruit came very early, around July. In 2008, I just seeing new tomatoes coming out in July. The Bible talks about the firstfruit and how we are to give this firstfruit to God as a sacrifice. Since I was fully able to enjoy the firstfruit of my tomatoes this year and was able to tell the difference in flavours, colours and quality compared to the tomatoes from later in the season, I can start to understand more fully that God asks me for the best of what I have. He's not concerned with the quantity but rather more concerned with the quality of what I give. And just as I was hesitant in sharing my firstfruit with friends, because I didn't feel they would fully understand and appreciate exactly the amount of work that went into producing that fruit, giving up the firstfruit to God, to his church, should feel like a sacrifice. I am being asked to give up something I have worked very hard at, and given my best efforts to, in order to give to God for his use in furthering his kingdom.

And lastly, the importance of pruning. Just as Hmma had warned me, the lack of proper pruning produces a plant that grows out of control. The plant will produce lots of fruit perhaps but the fruit will be lacking in quality. The fruit is not choice fruit and really what I had at the very end of the season was a lot of tomatoes that tasted like bursts of water -- fruit that was empty of nutriets and flavours. What does this teach me about my spiritual faith? It helps bring further insight to John 15:2:

2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

If I were to look at my life as a tomato plant, then my natural mentality is that I need to spend more time investing in a wide range of activities\ministry and people. I want to see results and I always thought that if i have more branches spread out, I can produce more fruit. Perhaps I have seen that my wide range of activiites does indeed produce lots of fruit. But what is the quality of that fruit? The verse in John doesn't say that every branch that does bear fruit is allowed to continue growing as is. Even those branches that bear fruit need to be pruned so that the remaining branches are even more fruitful. Then the fruit that is produced from pruned branches will be choice fruit of highest quality. So maybe it is time for me to start reflecting on how I am investing my time and energy -- the branches that are producing no fruit, ought to be cut off and the branches that are producing fruit, need to be pruned such that the remaining branches can be even more fruitful. I believe this is also a good and wise practice because it gives me a chance to be focused and intentional in what I am doing and it also allows me enough time to rest instead of spreading myself thin so that when i am giving my time and energy, it is the best of my time and energy.

Who knew that gardening could be so insightful!