Monday, January 19, 2015

Unexpected Blessings

Even in the possession of a stubborn brown thumb that has faithfully seen every green thing in my life to it's untimely grave, I have had this hankering to plant and grow things for as long as I can remember.  I want herbs and salad items I can grow for myself and enjoy chemical-free and worry free. Since we move a lot, I wanted to start with pots and planters, so I've been working with seeds for a while, trying to coax foodstuffs out of my little garden.  I've had some success with basil, and that's about it.  Here is a picture of my tomato plants in pots. The empty pots were other vegetables that died.  If you know anything about plants, you will note that these plants are also dying, slowly.  I'm going to let them live as long as I can, but I need to remix the soil so the roots have room to breath, to give the plants a better chance to thrive.
Poor scrawny things.  I sometimes wonder if I should put them out of their misery.
Now I want you to look at this:
This roma tomato plant grew up on accident, because someone left a tomato under the steps.  It's a monster!  All I've done is water when there is no rain and tie up the branches when they sprawl out, and they continue to do so, producing abundantly, without permission.  Isn't that odd?  Why would plants that grow up and die after hours of labor, and a wild plant spring up and outshine them all with little care?
I don't know.  This area is fertile, the soil ready, and waiting for someone to do something, anything with it.

It's a constant reminder to me, every time I go out my door, that I can have dreams and cultivate them, I can work hard in the field God has placed me, make plans and pursue them.  Sometimes God just does something outside my expectations.  Sometimes He changes plans.  Sometimes He just showers out a blessing that, in the end, really doesn't matter much to anything but my own heart.  On my best days, I get things wrong, but God can do what He wants.  I will stubbornly continue to work with my pots, but I'll also thankfully be enjoying this unexpected fruit along the way!