cheating seasons

Seasons change: Hot, cold, wet, dry, stop & go.

Today it's 101 degrees. This is what happens to an Azalea bush when the temperature is 101 degrees. OUCH! Don't worry I threw the hose on it.

But today I'm also cheating seasons.

My fall crop of broccoli is growing indoors. It is too hot outside for these cool weather seeds to germinate & grow. Here I have them under a grow light inside A/C-ville.  I'll plant them outside when seasons change to cool. I can extend the cool season further by putting a plastic covering over the plants. Thus, with this greenhouse effect, I cheat the freezing season.

I also plan on harvesting more than once. Once the first brocoli head is ready, I chop it off & the plant will want to shoot up more florettes. Depending on the weather, come fall I may be able to harvest as many as 5-6 times from the same plant (each harvest getting smaller).

This works well with the purpose of broccoli. They want to create seeds so that there will be a next generation of broccoli plants. When they sense the season might change it 'bolts' or starts the seed giving process. I stop the process when I harvest the green florettes before they turn into tiny, pretty flowers. That's why it keeps producing more florettes.

Seasons change.  Hot, cold, stop & go.

But I'm cheating the seasons.

Should I be suffering from horticulture guilt for not letting the poor brocolli plants met their purpose? Maybe I'll think about that when I'm enjoying the tasty brocolli this fall. Maybe not. If I get a yield, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna love the 'fruit' it provides. It's BROCCOLI!

But maybe the question I should ask is what else am I treating like broccoli.

Where else am I cheating seasons? Focusing on the yield & not the life? Striving for the destination & forgetting the journey? Going when it is the season to stop. Talking when it's time to listen? Attempting to blog deeply profound things when its time to teach a kid how to fold laundry? Oh... thats me.... conviction... Hang on.

A few days later:

Inevitably anything cheated of its seasons will fade & droop like the Azalea tree at the top. Yet living in a natural season is strongly resisted in our world. First, we rarely change our bad pattern until we are parched. Second, our solution to the starvation we feel is often to work harder at doing the wrong thing.

Let me explain: An apple tree would look very odd if its roots grow out of the ground & into the very apple it is working to produce. But somehow we've convinced ourselves that our stuff, our products, our ministry, our good deeds can somehow satisfy us.  But Jesus says:

"I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."  John 6:35

We can spend a lot of energy pinpointing the specific's of where 'that line is' between sabbath and work; what is meant to be consumed & what is meant to be left to grow future seeds?

But the real question is this:

In what do I trust? Where are my own roots seeking fulfillment?

Do I love the harvest? Or the One who gave the harvest?

Do I value a life that produced much?
or
Do I value a life ABIDING in my maker?

But seek first His kingdom and 

His righteousness, 

and all these things will be added to you.  

Matt 6:33

impact growth

Meet half-dried chili pepper.

It was gifted to me on our family vacation by a friendly hand I'd just met.  She wanted me to have it.  I was admiring her vegetable garden & she invited me in for a chat.  Then she handed me this.  She said all the vegetables in her garden were heirloom vegetables: meaning they weren't gentically altered or a hybrid, & came from a hot pepper from last years garden.  She wanted me to take a small bite.  I politely nodded & put it in my purse.  I didn't eat it.

I took it home.

I plan on using the seeds inside & planting lots of chili pepper plants next year. If you attempt this it will not be a succesful technique if you use store bought vegetables.  *There are exceptions to this, but that is a story for a later date.

I was thinking later about my behavior towards her - the friendly hand who first held the pepper.

She invited me in & gave a piece of her labor for me to enjoy.

As far as she knows I'm some lady who took a pepper, didn't try it, put it in her purse of all places, said thanks and later walked away.

She'll never know the impact that pepper will make.

She doesn't know much about me.  Perhaps you don't either.  I've updated my profile if you want to know a bit about who you are reading about.

So back to impact.  That's ultimately what I'm about.  I love gardening, but more than that I love watching lives change by the power of the Great Healer.   I love seeing death turn into life, blindness into perceiving & understanding, oppressed into free.  These aren't just events recorded in the Bible - they are happening now.

Often we live under the lie that what we do isn't making a difference.  We give away pieces of our labor & never see the impact.  But don't be deceived my friends.  Deep in our root structure resides countless lies that poison & prevent life nutrients from saturating our soul.  Self-criticism, comparison, selfishness & apathy breed these lies deep.

The biggest lie we live: we don't need to rely on the Source, the Giver of life.  Our roots need to be tapped into only HIM, our Father in Heaven. (John 15:4)

1 simple gift.  28 unseen seeds now poured out have the possibility to make 28 pepper plants.  The potential for each plant to bring forth several more peppers.

Impact matters.  Impact multiplies.

Lets sow some shall we!

Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love.

Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, 

for now is the time to seek the LORD,

that He may come and shower righteousness upon you

Hosea 10:12

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crushing faith

I've tried to grow cherry trees.  I planted two.  I have none.  It would have been nice to post a beautiful picture with bright cherry blossoms at the top to aesthetically get you in the mood for blog reading.

But I don't.

The first tree was taken out by a helpful hand who thought it was unwanted brush.  The second was lost to drought.

I had high dreams of a life filled with cherry pie & jam - serious real night time dreams about a cherry tree.

But some things don't happen in real life.

Like when I was young & prayed for a specific Christmas present.  That didn't happen.  A self-pollinating sour cherry tree still is a dream of mine, but after two attempts, I wonder if it's worth the effort.

If I didn't want one so badly, it might be easier to plant & try again.  Kinda like when I prayed my family would never fight. And for people at school to accept me.

I prayed for joy.

If I didn't really mean those prayers it might have been easier to keep praying when it didn't happen - to keep faith.

But some things don't happen in real life.    

There are words that evoke prayer & faith: "the cancer is back", "mini-stroke", "I cheated on you", "it's over", "she's gone", "miscarriage".  Even people who usually don't pray, wind up on their knees for these situations.  

But some things don't happen in real life.

Unfortunately, most situations can't be fixed by purchasing another cherry tree & starting again.  I don't think anyone’s prayers are like the ones they prayed before that first 'no' answer from God.

There is a rule somewhere (though I haven't seen it) that one must quote Hebrews 11 as a reference to 'faith'.  It's about when God did some seriously amazing 'Yes' things by faith. (I'd recommend reading if you haven't before).

But that is only half the story of faith.

Let me reference this story of Jesus praying by some olive trees.  He said "Father!  All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14:36).  Is it possible for Jesus to pray a un-faith filled prayer?   Was He being disingenuous? Making a point for posterity?  I think no.  In faith He was praying God to remove the burden - for Him to not go to the cross the next day.  But real life happened, Judas came to betray & Jesus died.

That's the moment.  The summit point of disappointment.

What should faith be like then?  Don't bounce to the resurrection yet & tie your answer in a nice ribbon.  Seriously, what should faith be like in THAT moment?  

When all is crushed?

When you ask God & He says no?  When the figurative cherry tree doesn't resurrect?
Will your faith be cut at the stump?  Will it wither in drought?  Or worse will it turn into an insincere, obligatory, 'ought to', type of faith?

Those moments really gauge your faith.  Do you believe because you merely have seen & received?

Or do you still hope for the unseen?  

I know where my gauge falls & I am lacking.  But Jesus was faithful.  He IS crushingly faithful; The kind of faith that accepts soul crushing consequences for the unseen hope.  He yielded to God's will be done.

I'm grateful for those around me who have this faith: a woman who now lives her last days trying to control the pain from cancer.  Her legacy of faith is spilled out on Facebook as hundreds of friends post their final good byes to her.   A family whose crushing faith has taken them through a tragic injury & into a different, unasked for future.   Yet they pray simply to see the goodness of the Lord.

That’s the kind of faith I want.  The one where I pray with child-like faith, accept when 'no' is the answer, and still hope for what I can't yet see.

I would have despaired unless I had believed 

that I would see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord;

be strong and let your heart take courage;

Yes, wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:13&14