Rooted - Day Sixteen

June 16, 2022
Rooted

It is probably impossible for me to make it thirty days straight without mentioning my garden at some point.

Day Sixteen found me deep inside the pea tunnels. Snap peas and snow peas are this family’s favorite.

I had high hopes that I could find some success in running an experiment long in the making.

Spring weather wasn’t kind to our pea crop this year… they were severely stunted early on from the cold and then bolted in the heat.

After the last frost, I planted different tomato varieties under the pea tunnels thinking they could root themselves while the peas matured.

Fast forward to today -

The peas are well over seven feet tall but the pods aren’t maturing fast enough to give good fruit.

But worse - the tomatoes underneath have stretched themselves to a ridiculous degree - in search of light.

The pea canopy almost completely blocked the poor tomatoes from receiving any light and developing properly.

However, on either side of the tunnels are other beautiful tomato plants maturing in typical fashion

Those plants have hearty leader stems, suckers, blossoms… lush foliage.

Nothing like the ones suffocating under the pea tunnels.

I spent a few hours tearing down my failed experiment and tried to find some gentle support for the thin, scrawny tomato plants.

It’s just a few tomatoes that probably won’t produce much - so we can afford to have tried this experiment and failed.

But as I pruned and trimmed… I had some time to think.

I wonder how often I have put myself under something that has stifled and stunted my growth. At first glance it seems to be good enough, well enough, sufficient enough…

But after some time - I begin wondering why I feel stretched thin… searching for Light.

And if I’m honest with myself, I just didn’t belong in that place at that time… regardless of how much I wanted it to work out.

And time passes and I look around finding others who are flourishing and maturing well.

And sometimes jealousy settles in
Or bitterness
Or envy
Or apathy
Or judgement…

And in truth - I simply never belonged
under a “pea tunnel…”
It blocked the light.

But for God!

He somehow finds a way
to help me gently get back on track…

He doesn’t just extend grace…
HE IS GRACE

And so tonight as I’m tapping out this journal writing - with dirt trapped way under my fingernails… from tearing down the pea tunnels… and securing tomatoes’ tiny stems…

I am GRATEFUL!

Grateful for lessons
in the garden…
from the Master Gardener

Rooted in Him
The Cross of Christ my guide

🔆🔆🔆