Choking Tomatoes

Available for 29 days

Good Morning: One sign that I am ready for a holiday is when I find myself getting angry over the smallest thing: it could be as simple as running out of bread - or when family plans slip out of control …. A few Summers ago I attempted growing tomatoes - I had carefully nurtured them from seed indoors and when they were ready, I put them in pots outside - but by the end of the Summer there was not one tomato to show … I felt confused and angry at my futile effort. When I invited a gardening friend over to examine my disobedient plants - she quickly spotted the cause … she said: You can’t expect these tomatoes to flourish when you have only given them small pots to grow in - you are choking them of life: Those words stuck with me: How often do we live in little kingdoms that prevent us from flourishing and choke us of life: we get angry when we become so busy trying to protect our own little kingdoms of what we are attached to - what we feel we can control it’s no wonder we can’t flourish: One antidote to misplaced anger is practicing hope alongside lament: handing our distress over to God whilst practicing outrageous hope knowing that God is in control and in God’s field: all will be well even when this current moment might not seem like it: Over these Summer months whether you garden your land or your soul - may God help you let go of anger and recover fruitful living: We pray: May the God of this Good Earth be with you. May God's Word, find life-giving soil within you so that all your works and your life bear fruits of goodness and truth. May the God of this Good Earth be with you .Amen