The Faith of Planting

All of the harvest matters to God regardless of the size.

This week, I harvested my first batch of blueberries for the year. There weren’t very many, but once I got the first ripe ones, there were more everyday. I only have one bush, but it’s so full of fruit that it’s leaning to the side.

Growing things always teaches me so much about my faith walk and blueberries are no exception.

It takes a certain amount of faith to plant anything in a hole in the ground and expect it to grow. There are so many factors that can stop any type of growth, from weather that’s too cold to birds and other animals that can destroy what we have planted.

But, even after I take the leap of faith to plant, there’s more to do. If I want to have lots of fruit, I have to take the time to water it and feed it with the right kind of fertilizer. Some years, nature provides plenty of rain and I have to do less on my end. In drought years, I have to work extra hard just to keep my plant alive.

Some years, no matter what I do, I have very little fruit and in other years, there are more blueberries than I know what to do with.

When I first see the blooms in the spring, it’s always a a sign of hope for the fruit to come, but I also know that the blooms are vulnerable and a late freeze can kill a lot of them. When I finally have fruit, I have to wait patiently before I pick it. Any fruit picked too early is sour.

When the time finally comes to harvest, I have to be very vigilant because I often miss some of the ripe fruit on my first time around the bush. I have to look underneath and at the very top and sometimes even after I have been around the bush several times, I will still find one I missed.

Our faith walk can be a lot like growing blueberries. When we walk closely with Jesus, we are often asked to step out in faith and plant something that may or may not grow, but despite our fears, we are called to plant anyway. Sometimes what we plant grows seemingly on its own and other times, it requires lots of prayer and work on our part. Like my blueberry bush, sometimes what we plant produces an abundance of fruit and sometimes it produces very little.

But, we need to remember that God’s economy is different than our own. He’s interested in all of our hard work and all the fruit that grows because of it, no matter the size of the crop. As Christians, we are all called to plant and then we let God do the rest. A new blueberry crop reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂