Tomatoes and Balance

Deuteronomy 32:4  (NIV)

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

I have planted our first garden in many years, in fact the first garden since we moved from Michigan in 1994.  One of the vegetables we focused on is tomatoes with the plan of canning spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce. With my focus on the garden this article about balance stuck out to me.

After last year's crop of tomatoes, which didn't amount to very much, I decided to change the soil. Early in the spring I removed much of the topsoil and replaced it with new. Now, it is necessary to understand that my crop consists of four plants, not a whole field.

I carefully chose healthy-looking plants to go into their plot in the garden. Here they were with new soil, well fertilized, and off to a good start. For a while they seemed to really come along -- the stalks were like trees, and the foliage was profuse. We had a lot of rain, and, in time, the plants reached far beyond their stakes.

But what of the tomatoes? The yellow blooms decorated the tops of the plants, but as the days passed with the rain never seeming to let up, the fruit didn't come to be. All the growth seemed to go to the husky plant. Maybe the bees were refusing to work on those rainy days!

Finally we had a few days of hot sunny weather in a row, and some of the many flowers produced their fruit. But it looked like another crop failure for me.

Though I seemingly did all I could to produce the perfect crop, something was not right. How many times in our lives do we do everything that seems perfect, only to fail in our attempt?

It seems a puzzle: too much, too little. Where do we obtain a balance, and what happens if we do?

Let me put it this way, the tomato way: good soil, good weather -- just the right balance of sun and rain -- and of course the expertise of a good gardener to boot. That perfect balance produces much fruit.

When we think of it, it's simple, isn't it? All we need to have for the perfect balance in our spiritual life is at our disposal. It is the God way: the best Book, perfect instructions, and a balance that only God can give. This fills our life with grounded roots, and a healthy, spirit-filled body that can bear much fruit.

Dear Lord of all, we come to You today, asking you to help us to balance the things in our life, that we might grow spiritually in Your perfect will. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.