Redemption in the Garden

One gray April morning, my neighbor came bursting out of her house, big smile on her face, dishpan looking thing in her hand, determination in her stride. Skipping any formalities like hello, she excitedly began telling me about the yummy tomatoes she had eaten 2 years ago. They were the best she had ever eaten so she decided to dry the seeds. Spring came and went and the seeds were forgotten.

Like a proud mama, she thrust the dishpan into my hands. I looked into the faces of what seemed like 100’s of tiny, fragile shoots, barely able to stand up on their own. They looked a bit anemic and sad actually. As she headed back to her house to get the “babies” out of the cold, she promised to share some plants after Memorial Day. (That’s the day you can wear white pants and baby tomato plants come out to be planted!)

I really didn’t think much about it until the day I was presented with four 2 inch tomato babies. We both marveled at their survival and at God’s ingenious cycle of life -seeds, growth, plants, fruit, harvest, death, dormant life, seeds, growth… and on it goes.

I planted the babies in a BIG pot- or so it looked at the time. I carefully watered, fed, and covered those babies with blankets on cold nights. Not much happened. Two weeks after planting, all four babies lay flat down on the dirt while I was watering. I waited to see if they were just playing with me. Surely they would pop right back up. No popping – no “surprise we're just kidding”. Heading inside, I questioned whether they were going to survive!

The next morning they were up but leaning and by the time I got home from work they had recovered. Soon they began to gain strength. I noticed they were standing up straighter – their little stems were thickening, I wondered if the two weeks had been “root growth” time. With deep roots gripping the soil, they were finally able to start their upward growth.

The day before we left for vacation the babies had grown into toddlers and just look at them now.

All this talk of growing has me thinking about the dormant seeds in each one of us. What beautiful plants are waiting to grow in our lives? Maybe - plants of talent, plants of relationships, plants of productivity and plants of change. God’s ingenious cycle of life is not restricted to the plant community. We are each offered the opportunity to be a part of the Master’s plan.

When I look at the tall, strong tomato “tree” that is threatening to burst out of its pot, I am amazed by the strength and life that was once dormant in a dried up seed sitting in a forgotten envelope in the back of someone’s drawer. Now it is a vital, vibrant plant with yellow promises of fruit starting to appear.

There are times in my life when I feel like the dried up seed, forgotten, alone and useless. There are other times when I experience life as vibrant as the giving tomato tree, growing at a pace I can hardly keep up with. More often I experience growth in one area and death in another. I love the verse that assures us that “the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work us.”

This is THE MESSAGE version: “ It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!” Romans 8:10-11

The part of the life cycle I resist is death. Who likes to die? Even in little ways I resist death or giving anything up. But new life does not come without death. I know that to truly LIVE I need to change which is a kind of death.

When fall comes, my beautiful tomato tree bursting with life now, will have given its fruit, spent its energy and begin to lose its life force. With the first frost death will come. But death does not come without the promise of life. If the gardener is smart she will save the seeds of promise, cooperate with the Master’s plan and enjoy the new harvest next year.