Thoughts of summer are on my mind – Fourth of July celebrations, family camping trips, and soaring temperatures! This year we decided to establish a small “garden” in some large pots on our patio. We went to the nursery and chose our plants carefully, then went home to plant our garden of tomatoes and peppers.
Our wait was brief, almost immediately all the plants began to grow … and grow. They got taller and leafier and soon began to blossom. After a month or so, two, then four, then five little tiny tomatoes appeared! We were going to have homegrown tomatoes this summer! I could hardly wait! But then… nothing. Several weeks passed with no more tomatoes and no peppers showing up. There were still blossoms, but why big tall leafy plants with blossoms and no fruit?
A spiritual lesson emerged. I considered how frustrated I was because the plants were growing leaves but no fruit. I wondered how God must feel when He sees us grow tall, produce blossoms (the promise of fruit), but then not produce spiritual fruit in our lives as He intended. We spent a whole afternoon carefully choosing our plants, the soil, and the containers. We planted them deep, watered and fertilized them regularly. We did all we could do as gardeners, but the plants fell short of our expectations. We planted tomato plants because we wanted ripe, red tomatoes, not just tall leafy plants.
God must look at us and remember how carefully He chose us, planted us in a family of believers for nurturing, watered us with His word, fertilized us with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, even pruned us to help us grow. We came forth with lots of leaves and maybe a few blossoms. God didn’t choose us for redemption to grow just leaves. He saved us to produce fruit! Perhaps the Divine Gardener is as disappointed in our spiritual development as I was with my plants.
My days of frustration with my nearly fruitless garden have caused me to ponder if I’m bearing the fruit God desires in my life, or like my plants, am I only growing leaves? How is your garden growing?
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15.5-8
Authored by Ruthann Gleason