THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY 

My husband, Ed, and I had never raised a garden at any time during our marriage. We each had helped our parents with a garden when we were younger, but our busy schedules kept us from attempting to raise one ourselves.

A few years ago, we decided to raise a small “box garden.”  Ed built a frame out of some old landscape timbers that we’d had lying around. It was only about eight feet long, and about four feet wide.  We added soil and bought some tomato plants, cucumber seeds, and  some small pepper plants.  We placed the tomato plants in front, the cucumber seeds and pepper plants in the middle, and then, Ed said, “I want to plant some pumpkin seeds in the back.  The vines can go down the back and over the hill.” Every morning, we would go out on the porch, to see if we saw any signs of our tomato plants bearing fruit, or any sprouts from our cucumber seeds, or any little tiny banana peppers.

Well...it wasn’t long until the pumpkin vines took over!  They did not go over the hill. Oh no! They crawled all across our little box frame. Then they began to creep up onto our porch. Then they wound around the hydrangea bush. Every day, they had taken over a little more of our front porch and surrounding area. It was like something out of a science fiction movie! We did harvest maybe two little tomatoes. I really wanted cucumbers from our little garden, but there was none to be found.  Often, we would say, “We ought to have plenty of pumpkins!” We envisioned big, round pumpkins, and how we would decorate with them, and make Jack-o-lanterns.

Finally, the vines stopped attacking our space. We began to see large orange and yellow blooms along the vines. We expected a big pumpkin at each spot where there was a bloom. We were still excited, even though we didn’t harvest any more tomatoes, absolutely no cucumbers, and two or three banana peppers. But...we sure were going to be overrun with pumpkins! Big pumpkins...small pumpkins...pumpkins of all shapes and sizes! Or so we thought. Sure enough, we did start to see a few little tiny pumpkins. We waited to watch them grow...but they didn’t. They grew to about the size of an apple, and just...stopped...growing. Again, every day, we would check to see if they had grown any bigger. They hadn’t. 

One day, Ed said, “I think I’ll cut one of these open, and see what it tastes like.” So, he did. Guess what? The seeds inside that little tiny pumpkin, looked just like cucumber seeds! Furthermore, the little tiny pumpkin tasted just like a cucumber! Amazing!

I have tried and tried to think of the lesson learned here. I will share a few thoughts, and let you decide.

    1.    Be careful who is planted next to you. The company you keep is important to your growth.
    2.    Sometimes, we can expect great things, but if we’ve not planned properly, we will be disappointed.
    3.    Something that can seem so innocent can creep across your “porch,” and take over your life.
    4.    Even though you might be disappointed with the outside, something sweet and good may be on the inside.
    5.    Did the pumpkin take over the cucumber...or did the cucumber take over the pumpkin? Romans 12:21 says, “Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Our little box garden provided a lot of excitement and adventure that year. We are already thinking ahead to this year. This year...well, this year, the pumpkins will have a place of their very own, so our cucumbers won’t end up in a pickle! 

Let us remember the true vine. Jesus said:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.  John 15:5

HAVE A GREAT THURSDAY!