Back at the beginning of May I wrote a blog post dealing with hope … and trusting God, even when all hope seems lost. At the time I had just moved the tiny little tomato plants out to the garden. Throughout the months of May and June I doubted my own blog post, because the little tomato plants didn’t look like there was any chance they would survive the never-ending cold and rain!
But finally, near the end of July the sun came out and things warmed up. The little tomato plants perked up … and began growing.
Here you can see a comparison of the tomato plants back at the beginning of May … and those same tomato plants today.
Amazing isn’t it!
Here are a few more photos just to drive home the point that God is amazing!
God is all about redeeming what might look to everyone else to be a lost cause.
The tomato plants are now loaded with a harvest of green tomatoes! But … October 1st is Saturday. The frost will be coming in a few weeks … accompanied by the onset of the winter rains! (endless months of constant continual cold rainy drizzle!) The window-of-opportunity for the tomatoes to ripen is closing.
Hubby’s coworkers informed him this week that the best way to get green tomatoes to ripen is to place them in a brown paper bag with a banana. Who knew! We had no idea!
So here you can see, in today’s background photo, my attempt at trying out this “life hack.”
Evidently, according to Google, tomatoes ripen based more on the presence of ethylene gas than sunshine. I had no idea! And evidently, bananas are a great source for ethylene gas.
So, I guess the month of October will see hubby and I having lots of brown paper bags sitting around our house, filled with lots of green tomatoes and their new best friend … a banana!
Relationships are a lot like this! We need each other! Just like green tomatoes need the presence of a banana.
Every last one of us is a “work in progress.” God is doing in our lives much the same as what He did with the little tomato plants this past summer. God is helping us to grow … in spite of the setbacks and difficulties! God is redeeming us and bringing a harvest in our lives, even though it might look to everyone else that our life is a “lost cause.” God is loading our lives with His “fruit” … the Fruit of His Holy Spirit!
But just like the tomato plants in my garden need a little help reaching maturity, so also we need a little help reaching maturity in our lives. We need friends! God gives us friends (just like the banana helps the green tomatoes) to balance out those aspects of our lives which might be lacking.
God gives us friends to tell us the hard truth … the honest truth that nobody else is brave enough or willing to tell us.
God gives us friends to help us see our faults and flaws … and to give us advice and encouragement as we work through our issues.
God gives us friends to help us mature! Just as the banana helps the green tomatoes mature and ripen.
Who has God given you to be a “banana” in your life? What hard truths has your good friend shared with you, which has helped immeasurably in your maturity?
We need each other!
