The last couple of weeks I have been busy, busy, busy processing the results of the McKnight Family Homestead garden. We have canned enough pasta sauce, pizza sauce and salsa to last us for the year. Beans and peppers are in the freezer and the garden is still producing well, and should throughout September at least. I am pleased with the results this year. We have carefully considered which plants flourish beside others, we have weeded, watered and fertilized, and now we are enjoying the fruits of a bountiful harvest.
One day back in June I received a little surprise — it was an unexpected plant growing out of the ground beside my raised bed of pepper plants. As I examined it, I realized that it was a small tomato plant. My grill is just above this “wild” tomato plant and I can only assume that one day while grilling some Shish Kabobs I had a tomato fall off the skewer, and I then tossed it off the deck. A few weeks later — viola — a wild growing tomato plant.
I sure hated to just pull it out of the ground, so I stuck a tomato cage around it and waited to see what would happen. Just about a month ago I was able to determine that it was a Roma Tomato plant because it had just a couple tiny tomatoes on it. Now, this week, as you can see, I have a little ripe Roma just waiting to be added to my next batch of tomato basil bruschetta.
Funny thing is… my tomato plants in my garden beds (Roma included) have produced like crazy. I have had to tie up those plants in numerous spots, and most of them are between 6-7 feet high with dozens of tomatoes. But not this little guy, it’s about 30 inches tall and has just 2 small pieces of fruit. It surely is the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree of tomato plants.
Of course the reason is obvious, it didn’t receive any attention at all. No weeding, no fertilizing — watered just whenever it rained. It isn’t planted very well either and is right up against my raised pepper bed which blocks all of the morning sunlight.
Oh, it’s a tomato plant for sure — and it has produced a couple of tomatoes, but lack of attention has stunted its ability to produce well.
Hmm… I am pondering a spiritual lesson here with Charlie (that’s what I named my little Roma). Psalm 1 says: “Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1a,2-3)
So my pondering is simply this… Can you be a Christian and not seek to develop spiritual disciplines in your life? I suppose so — but you will never be like a tree that is planted by streams of water. Bible study, Christian community, prayer, corporate worship and a yielded heart to the Holy Spirit are all fertilizer to our soul. If we desire to yield fruit and not have our leaves wither — we seek to know God’s word and apply it to our life. The more we know God’s word… the more we know what he desires for our life.
So let’s learn a lesson from Charlie Roma… refuse to be an isolated tomato plant… uh… Christian, I mean. Lean into God’s word, and then seek to live according to how God leads you. Don’t be a little Roma… be a Tree.
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