Tomato Takeaways

My family and I recently made the 700-mile move from Texas to Alabama, and it has been full of changes and lessons, in the best way possible. I've decided to start sharing some of the little lessons that I've been learning, starting with my tomatoes. You see, in Texas, nothing--and I mean NOTHING--that I tried to ever plant would grow. If I set something in the dirt, it would die within a week.

My planting skills were so bad, or so I thought, that one Wednesday night one of my boys (I won't name which one) walked into Bible class with a very specific prayer request on his heart. When the teacher asked him what he would like to pray for, he pleaded with his fellow 4 and 5 year olds saying, "We need to pray for rain because our flowers look terrible!"

I laughed until I cried. He was absolutely not wrong! Our flowers looked TERRIBLE. Horrendous. Atrocious. Pathetic. Dead. And they were going to need a whole lot more than rain!

I finally just gave up entirely on planting anything. The only plant I had in my home was snake plants which don't require any significant amount water to remain alive, but I removed any and every plant that required any real commitment from me from our property.

People would regularly tease me about my lack of a green thumb, which was totally fair because that's how things appeared. And so I just started believing that I couldn't grow anything. And so I just stopped growing.

And then I moved to Alabama, and I thought, "What if everyone, including myself, was wrong?" What if I did have a green thumb? What if I did have the ability through God to grow plants? What if I tried again?

And so, I decided to try. I decided that my boys and I would plant sweet basil, red snack peppers, and cherry tomatoes. What did we have to lose? I'd already annihilated every plant we had ever planted, so things could truly only get better.

I didn't have much hope, but I did have a new watering can. We built a mud kitchen, made some mud pies, and planted our plants. And every day, I got up and watered those plants. And while I'm still so, very hesitant to say it, I believe that my thumb is actually...green.

I am learning so many lessons from my plants, and here are some of my "tomato takeaways" that I've gathered over the past several weeks:

Just because someone says it doesn't make it true. For 5 years I believed that I couldn't plant anything because that's what people were telling me. And I believed it. I watched others around me successfully planting beautiful gardens, and I saw my poor attempts that resulted in failure and just believed that my thumb would never be green. I didn't have to work through the things that others said as much as I had to work through the lies I was telling myself.

We are all so critical of ourselves--far more critical of ourselves than anyone else. But just because others or we say or believe something negative about ourselves, it doesn't make it true. We will know the truth by the fruit.

Sometimes we just need different soil. I have always loved the quote, "Bloom where you are planted." But I've also realized that sometimes we find ourselves in soil where we just can't bloom. We just can't grow. We just can't develop into the person that God wants us to fully be. And sometimes it's the plant. But sometimes it's the soil.

In Matthew 13, we read the parable of the sower, where Jesus describes different types of soil that seeds fall on. There is the path where seeds fell, and the birds quickly devoured them. There are the rocks where the seeds fell and quickly sprang up with no real depth, and the sun scorched the plants as soon as it came up. There are the thorns where the plants were choked as they grew. But then there was good soil where the plants grew, some a hundredfold. And I don't know about you, but I want to find that good soil. And I want to become that good soil for others.

We will know a tree by its fruit. In Matthew 7, starting in verse 15, we read, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."

When I think of bad fruit, I think of gossip, slander, lying, charm, deception, superiority, control, unreasonableness, jealousy, rivalry, and constant conflict. Ephesians 5:10 tells us to "take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."

But Galatians 5:22-24 gives us hope! It tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. And it tells us that when we choose to follow Jesus, we choose to give up the bad fruit.

And finally, I want to be a banana. Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, "Charissa, I thought we were talking about tomatoes. Why are you now talking about bananas?" Let me tell you!

One day last week, it rained, and I walked out on our patio only to find that in the storm, two of our little cherry tomatoes, still green and not finished developing, had fallen off of the vine. I was devastated and certain that I had ruined yet another plant. Here I had finally figured out how to grow tomatoes only for them to fall from the vine prematurely.

But instead of giving up hope, I researched what to do. And in my research, I discovered that if I put the little, green tomatoes in a brown paper bag with a banana that the banana would help them finish developing and turn them red. I wasn't sure what kind of fruit magic I was engaging in, but I did what I was told.

And would you look at that?! The banana sat there and helped the little tomatoes turn red! Those little tomatoes that I thought were destined for compost were instead destined for a future pizza.

And it made me want to be a banana. It made me want to help everyone around me to grow and develop and reach the full potential that God put in them. It made me want to finish growing and developing and reaching the full potential that God put within me.

It made me want to look at others and, instead of seeing their struggle, see their capability. It made me want to encourage others and build them up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). It made me want to carry others' burdens (Galatians 6:2). It made me want to only use words and speech that give life and grace and encouragement (Ephesians 4:29).

This world is hard, and Satan is using everything he can to knock us off of the Vine. To make us feel buried instead of planted. To get us distracted and distraught. To cause our fruit to be bad instead of good.

But we can learn from these little tomatoes that God has so much in store for us and for our lives. That we are His masterpieces created for good works (Ephesians 2:10). That He has plans and a future for us, full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11). And all we have to do is stay connected to our Vine.

So Much Love,