Planting Tomatoes

Read 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Paul wrote, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth."
-1 Corinthians 3:6 (NRSV)

MY dad loved to plant and grow vegetables, particularly tomatoes. However, because he was in the military, we had to move every three or four years. Even if we knew we were about to be moved, Dad would plant and tend a garden anyway, and say with a smile, "I'm planting tomatoes for someone else to pick."

Dad's words come back to me at times when I feel my work for God is not showing any result. I have never helped someone find God in a single encounter, nor have I ever helped guide a straying Christian to return to God's path in a single conversation. Frankly, most of what I have done for God may not bear fruit in my lifetime.

Each act I do for God nudges someone closer to God's grace, but never all the way. In the few cases that I've been present when someone does find God for the first time or is restored to spiritual health, it's always been the last of a long series of events in that person's path.

God calls us to work in the garden. We can plant or water, whether or not we get to enjoy the harvest.

by James M. Playford (Kansas, USA)