A Different Summer

It has been some time since I last posted. So much has happened and I'm not at all sure how yet to process all of it.

Our summer has been great--temperature-wise--for those of us who melt into grouchiness when the temps get above 86. However, the garden has suffered from the damp, cool summer. We lost all our tomato plants to the late blight, which came early. A groundhog decided to take up residence nearby and ate off our edemame, sweet potatoes and parsley and carrot tops. After he was eliminated, the carrots and parsley and a few sweet potatoes came back.

All this was going on while I was confined to the sofa (later on the porch) with a broken ankle. Yes, it is amazing what can happen in the blink of an eye. One false step on the stairs and you're in the ER deciding on when to have surgery. At least, after all these years, I am finally screwed together!

So, I've had to let go of a great many things. I have been unable to cut the grass. I miss the hours of solitude and the time of prayer. I have had to ask for help...ugh. I was unable to share from our garden, that I so enjoy doing...not much anyway. My husband dug the potatoes. Digging potatoes is like Christmas. When you dig in the ground you never know what you will get! I love the surprise. It made me sad to miss it. We did get a good crop, though, for which I am very thankful. My husband know little about the garden, so trying to explain how some vegetables should look when they are ready was quite a challenge. Also, trying to remember where I planted things was a challenge. He would come back to the house trying to describe a plant in the garden and where it was planted and then I would try and remember what I planted there. Needless to say, there has been some level of frustration. The dear guy picked all the beans! I would snap most of them and then, after a crash course in canning, he was able to can all our beans. He also canned all the beets. I think he was pretty proud. I am so thankful that he didn't just let everything go to weeds.

It was very difficult for me to be on the sidelines. A good friend reminded me that my worth is not in what I do....but it sure feels like it. Since I was unable to be on my feet, dear neighbors and friends from our church supplied us with meals so that my husband did not have to cook anything for a month! I love to bake bread, but have been unable to stand long enough to tackle that task. But, the garden was the big thing. That's my 'job'. Perhaps the garden was becoming a pride issue. I'm not real sure. Like I said, I'm still processing all this. What does God want me to learn? Or are the lessons still in progress.

What I am sure of is that good friends bring great movies and book for you when you're down. They come just to visit, because you are incredibly lonely. They say, "I love you" with food and phone calls and cards full of well wishes. My church family is just that--family. I couldn't be more thankful and grateful for each of them.

So, while I remain on the DL and still have physical therapy to go through, I am looking for the lessons that I need to learn from this particular session of God's school.

I bless thee for tempering every distress with joy;
too much of the former might weigh me down,
too much of the latter might puff me up;
Thou art wise to give me a taste of both.
But thou art all I need.
Let me continually grasp the promise,
'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'

--excerpt from Blessings from The Valley of Vision

Working in the Garden of Sanctification

Now that it is early summer, the garden is beginning to give us veggies. All the planting and weeding and cultivating are showing results. It is also the time of year with which I struggle. I even hesitate to write this as it only reveals one of the many sins that give me trouble. One of my besetting sins. (Thank you John Owen.)

Shortly before we moved to this home, I was reading in the Old Testament and came across the whole concept of "firstfruits". (see Exodus 23:16 & 19) While I had heard about tithing as first fruits of your paycheck, the idea of giving from your harvest was a new thought for me. Since I was no longer working outside the home, my thought was that I would give a "tithe" of my garden. Sounds easy enough. I wrote a check out each payday for the church, this will be a no-brainer. You have no idea how difficult it has been for me.

Each spring as I plant and pray over each crop that is planted, I figure that I have this thing licked. Then comes the harvest. Then comes the doubt. "How will I know if I have enough for us?" Shouldn't I "get all I can and can all I get?"

Every summer I wrestle with this basic concept. Will God take care of us? Can I trust His promises?

Did the Old Testament folks struggle with this too? Of course, back then "everybody was doing it"...really, they were. But did that make it easier? In our day, we are pretty detached from the agricultural way of life and, well, if my beans don't come up, I can always buy canned ones from the store (sorry, yuck). To most of us our gardens are a hobby. We have the store to fall back on, but our ancestors and the O.T. folks did not. It seems that it is far easier to write a check than to hand over food that you have lovingly labored over. When you give the first fruits, you have no idea what can go wrong in the meantime, or what your yield will actually look like. It is an exercise in faith and trust.

In my devotions today, the scripture passage was 1 Timothy 4:10, "To this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." The devotional goes on to talk about the hard work of sanctification. That growing in the knowledge of God is exhausting and progress is wearying. That left to ourselves, we would give up striving and be discouraged with our progress. It is discouraging for me to have to wrestle with this same issue every year. What is so sad is that I have always had enough. Always. So, after six years, you would think I had a better handle on this. Well, maybe a bit better. I don't try and talk myself out of it anymore. I've been battling with this each summer, so I know all the stupid arguments that I will throw at myself. The worst part of this whole exercise is that I really enjoy giving my veggies away! When I can give something that is a little part of me, it truly is a joyful thing. Another reason, I can't figure why I still struggle.

The long and short of it is that God uses my garden for my sanctification. He gives me the opportunity to trust him through my veggies. It might even be that whole "working out your salvation with fear and trembling" thing going on. I know that I will continue to delight in giving and just need to continue to prayerfully work out the kinks that come in the summer.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Philippians 2:12 & 13 NIV

Farmers and the Rest of Us

"Vocation is all about how God works through human beings."

This article by Gene Edward Veith is in the June issue of Tabletalk. While other things are discussed, I thought his insights into our vocation and God's calling in our lives was very well written.

"We are not all called to be farmers. But whatever our vocations, we can all be sowers who go out to sow."

Successful Replanting

In my daily tour of the garden, I was pleased to see that the green beans that I replanted are up! Thanks to a wee bit of rain, a noisy aluminum pie pan and, mostly, The Master Gardener.

It is a relief to see them up. As long as nothing else happens to them, we should be up to our eye balls in beans. I'll need to keep an eye out for critters since the beans are in the new part of the garden and a bit closer to the woods. I've seen a rabbit out in the field, but not near the garden, yet.

While we did not get as much rain as other folks, it certainly seemed to perk things up. The broccoli is looking wonderful. Everything seemed to benefit from the rain we received (imagine that)...even the weeds.

O LORD,
I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried....
O Lord, there is much ill about me - crucify it,
much flesh within me - mortify it.
Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approbation,
the shame of being thought old-fashioned,
the desire to be cultivated or modern....
Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys.
Help me to be a holy, happy person,
free from every wrong desire,
from everything contrary to thy mind.
Grant me more and more of the resurrection life:
May it rule me,
May I walk in its power, and be strengthened through its influence.
--an excerpt from Crucifixion and Resurrection from The Valley of Vision

Crop Failure

On the 25th of May, I planted my green beans.

Green beans are the main veggie in our household. They are easy enough to can, which our family seems to prefer over frozen. This is OK with me, since we eat to many, it leaves more room in the freezer. Green beans eaten freshly picked with melted butter...oh yeah. My hubby likes them with olive oil; he likes everything with olive oil.

There is only one other time that I have had trouble with my beans. One year about half the seeds never came up! One whole row. This year, none of them came up. Day after day I would go to check to see if they were beginning to peak through the ground...nothing. On Friday, I dug around a bit to see what was going on underground...nothing. So, Saturday, I got out our little Mantis tiller and worked up the area where the beans had been planted. I found the remains of only two bean seeds. Neither were even sprouted. Thankfully, there remained enough seeds to replant the two long rows of beans. I put some old CDs on string and hung them from stakes to, hopefully, help keep the birds away with the movement and flashing sunlight. I also hung up an old aluminum pie pan out to make some noise.

Our garden gives us the bulk of our vegetables for the year. Since we are no longer such an agrarian society, I think that it becomes so easy to forget how much we are dependant on God for our food. Even with all the technology that the huge farms use, they still are dependant on the Creator for the growth of their crops.

All this helps me remember that I can plant the seeds, but I am not in charge of their growing. I am totally dependant on the Creator for rain and other favorable conditions to grow the plant that gives us food. I plant and pick and preserve (there is sweat in there, too...remember that whole "...by the sweat of your brow" thing?).

Of course this goes hand in hand with sharing the gospel. We are to used by God to plant seeds. God gives the increase. We are not in charge of what God does with the seeds.

R. C. Sproul said in this month's Tabletalk, that " I can take no credit for the response that I made for Christ. God not only initiated my salvation, He not only sowed the seed, but He made sure that the seed germinated in my heart by regenerating me by the power of the Holy Ghost. That regeneration is a necessary condition for the seed to take root and to flourish." God does all the work from beginning to end.

May I continue to grow in Christ as his seedling, working my salvation out with fear and trembling. I am praying, too, for my little garden and its increase.

Heavenly Scent

In my weed-infested perennial gardens are one of my favorite flowers...Dianthus Bath's Pink. These dainty pink flowers have the most amazing scent. It is almost reminiscent of fresh cotton candy. These flowers have been in full bloom for a little over a week filling the air all around the back patio with the most refreshing aroma. It seems that my Bath's Pink smell especially wonderful this year. The pure joy of enjoying these flowers is so very relaxing.

After enjoying some time outside the other day, I began to wonder if Heaven would have the scent of my Bath's Pinks. How amazing to have a heavenly garden full of fresh fragrances filling the air...with no weeds. It would be most "Heavenly".


O DIVINE REDEEMER,
Great was thy goodness in undertaking my redemption, in consenting to be made sin for me, in conquering all my foes;
Great was thy strength in enduring the extremities of divine wrath, in taking away the load of my iniquities...
Great was thy wisdom in devising this means of salvation; Bathe my soul in rich consolations of thy resurrection life;
Great was thy grace in commanding me to come hand in hand with thee to the Father,
to be knit to him eternally,
to discover in him my rest,
to find in him my peace,
to behold his glory,
to honour him who is alone worthy;
in giving me the Spirit as teacher, guide, power, that I may live repenting of sin,
conquer Satan, find victory in life.
When thou art absent all sorrows are here,
When thou art present all blessings are mine.

--Excerpts from Victory from the book, The Valley of Vision

Who's Bright Idea Was This Anyway??

All winter I was anxious to expand our garden. We have not had room to plant things that have big vines such as cantaloupe or watermelon. We have not planted corn since we moved here either.

My dear husband has spent over a week trying to get the sod off so we could plant so new and exciting plants. Since he has a backhoe, he thought that it would make it easier to tear the sod off and try and bury it...however, it looked better on paper than it really worked. We spent several days trying to dig up the sod and break the soil off the bottom. Along with all that, there is a healthy crop of rocks and glass. We know that the previous owners had a garden on this spot in the past. It seems that it was also used as a garbage dump. We have found all sorts of broken glass and pottery. And did I say that we have rocks?? So that meant that the garden needed raked and the rocks--at least some of them--needed removed. Today, the bulk of the new garden was done. We have actually doubled the size of the garden area. One neighbor asked if I didn't have enough to do.

Friday I was able to plant the carrots, a few beets, some extra onions, red potatoes and radishes in the old part. Today, we were able to plant two rows of green beans in the new garden. We put in a dozen tomatoes and one grape tomato. It's a start. We want to plant corn, cucumbers, cantaloupe, green and red peppers and we are waiting for the arrival of our sweet potatoes from Johnny's. We'll see what ends up where.

I was very tempted a few of our warm days to get some things planted, but I am thankful that I did not. We had frost three mornings in a row last week. One morning it was below 28 degrees, which nipped our grapes badly. We may have just a few grapes this year. It seems that our blueberries got nipped a bit, too, even though we did cover them. We'll have to wait to see what the damage is later.

Our asparagus has been doing well. I've been freezing some...when we are not eating it each day. The rhubard is going crazy, as usual. I could eat rhubard crisp or rhubarb pie every day! The onions are up and the peas are thinking about blossoming. It won't be long before I'm picking peas.

If the rain holds off (even though we really need some), I'll try and get corn in tomorrow and perhaps the peppers. We were both worn out and very red by the end of the day today.

Soon, the garden will be all planted then it will be in the hands of the Creator. It has been a long week working hard in the sun and getting very dirty. I'm so thankful that we have the acreage to plant more food, not only for ourselves, but our family and friends. I'm also thankful for a husband who is willing to help with his wife's crazy idea of garden expansion.

Thou hast been mindful of me and visited me,
taken charge of me from birth,
cared in all conditions for me,
fed me at thy table,
drawn the curtains of love around me,
given me new mercies every morning....
May thy goodness always lead me to repentance,
and thy longsuffering prove my salvation.
--an excerpt from Caring Love from The Valley of Vision