Lesson for the Week

Here is another wonderful lesson from Miss Tericia Summers! I know you all be blessed by it as I was.

Lessons Through a Dying Tomato Plant

It’s amazing how the simple things in life can teach us so much spiritually. Just the other day I was pruning my poor tomato plants in an attempt to bring them back to life after a long drought. I had intended on going out for a prayer walk, but got distracted (amazing how He does that) by the near death appearance the two plants. As I pruned, I could not get the verses "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1-2) out of my head. The lesson for me in that simple task suddenly became crystal clear. There are branches in my life that are not bearing fruit. No matter how much of myself I pour into them. They are withering and dying; turning brown and spotted. God wants to remove them and I must let him. There are branches on my tomato plants that are bearing fruit, even though we are 14 inches behind in rainfall and I forget frequently to water them. Amazing what God can do. I have no idea how. I have even eaten the ripe ones; they are delicious. Just like in my life, when I am experiencing what I perceive to be a drought; I cannot see or feel the Holy Spirit “raining” down on me, but he is still there, bearing fruit in my life: delicious fruit that feeds others. I do not ask how; I just marvel and give thanks. The branches that have no fruit, and will never because they are brown, wilted and dead, I pull off or I snip. They must be cast aside so that the energy, nourishment and water can go to the branches with fruit and the tender new shoots that have miraculously sprung up. When I am done, my poor tomato plants look stark and skinny, but the next day, the droopy branches are standing slightly taller and look slightly greener. Fruit that was taking forever to ripen is now suddenly riper and closer to harvest. The same is true in my life. God must strip away the dead so that the life giving Spirit inside me can focus on growing the new tender shoots and ripening the fruit, making it ready to harvest. Sure, my life might look stark and skinny, but I can stand tall and look a little healthier with each passing day. One of my tomato plants managed to grow a few fruit-laden branches outside of the protective metal frame I had provided. I had to delicately remove the frame and reset the plant so that the heavy bent branches could rest on the frame for strength. Sometimes in my life, God has to reset me because I am trying to grow branches that are outside the protective frame of his Word. It is at those times that he has to gently, lovingly reposition me so that my heavy bent branches can rest on His frame for strength. You see, the strength was there the entire time; IT never moved or left. I was the one who tried to make it outside of His protection and strength. I began to bear fruit, but it became heavy and my branches began to bend and split. When he repositioned me, some of my branches had to be removed, but it was for the better, just as my tomato plant is better without the troublesome branches. That day, prayer took on a whole different format. I was not walking and talking with the Lord, sharing my praises, concerns and desires. I was tending to my garden while He tended to my Soul.