Fruit

It's come.


The day I have been waiting for since late February: Fruit.


(Or veggies.)

Of course hard work is still required, but seeing the fruit makes ease of toil.


One of the things that was hard for me as a gardener this week was pruning.

The tomato branches had grown too heavy for their stakes and were slumping under their own weight.


My tomatoes and zucchini had grown so full and thick that the sun wasn't able to shine through, causing the under-leaves and young fruit to wither and rot.

This was especially true for the zucchini.


You see, growth is a good thing, but pruning makes the plant healthier-- more fruitful.

It was painful for me to cut out the limbs and leaves, and yet, I know that the benefits of such discipline will yield a greater crop.


I'm learning so much from my time in the garden. The fruit I gather this summer will not be limited to what I can pick and put on a plate.


I am harvesting fruit that no one will see, but will sustain me through the year. It will carry me through those cold, wintery months when the smell of the earth and the warm humid air will be a memory...and a longing.

I will remember to prune the branches of my days and weeks, so the Sun will shine clear down to the dirt and keep my roots from rotting.

I will remember that it's OK to cut out branches that look and seem life-giving, but are really weighing things down, causing the whole plant to bend with the weight...

Yes, the fruit of the garden has come...But my crop is far greater than the eye can see.

"So neither he who plants
nor he who waters is anything,
but only God who gives the growth."

1 Cor. 3:7 - ESV