Who’s In Charge

Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.     Haggai 1:6

We like to believe that we are in control. Helpless is not a state we enjoy.

Sometimes we are reminded that God is in control and we are not.

Gardening is one of those reminders for me.

I can prepare the soil.

I can plant the best seed.

I can water and fertilize.

But I cannot make the plants grow or produce.

Only God can do that.

Last season I had a beautiful row of lima beans. They were loaded with blossoms that became pods but very few developed into beans that could be harvested. Why? I have no idea.

This season we put in a raised bed garden.

I prepared the beds.

I planted the seeds and watched for them to emerge.

I was expecting a bumper crop!

But sometimes things don’t go the way you plan.

One of the tomato plants developed strange fruit, really deformed.

So I pulled the plant.

The yellow squash and zucchini produced but then the plants wilted and died.

Then there were the critters!

Hungry grasshoppers.

And whatever is eating my tomatoes just when they are ripening.

Raised bed gardening still has its challenges but we have enjoyed the fruits of our labor just the same.

And there is always next year!

This experience has served to remind me that I’m not in charge.

But I do know the One who is and I trust Him.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:                                    Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.                                          Habakkuk 3:17-18