gardening

Often, it is not hard to draw spiritual connections from gardening.

I planted pepper plants last spring, and for some reason, the banana peppers never produced anything.  Last year I had all the peppers I could want off of 2 or 3 plants, but this year, 8 or 9 plants yielded nothing.  Summer got too hot to be outside.  The grass grew up in areas I couldn't get to with the riding mower.  I stopped watering.  I stopped tending to them at all.  And now:

It is a picture of pure neglect.  Something that started out with such high hopes.  And then was left by the wayside.  Yet, in spite of the neglect, there is fruit (or veggies, as the case may be).To the right of the withered red pepper hidden by a leaf is a new "baby" banana pepper.

Is that not how are spiritual lives are sometimes?  We ask and ask.  We see no results.  We do different things to try to achieve the desired results. We bargain, we promise, we pray, we fast.  And then we walk away, disappointed.  Not sure if God has even heard us, but sure that if He did, the answer must have been "NO!"

How often God DOES come through!   Maybe not in the way we had planned, but He comes through in spite of dryness in prayer, in spite of the weeds of sin, in spite of our lack of effort and lack of faith.

How do we respond when we see these gifts?  Do we see them at all, or have we given up and gone on to other things?  Do we leave them hanging on the vine with indifference?  Gee thanks, God, but I don't need it now.  Or do we say a prayer of thanks and make use of what we've been given?