Outside the Fence

I admit to not being much of a gardener. My favorite part is deciding what to plant and getting it in the ground. Once there, I check in every now and again, watering when it starts to droop and making sure the weeds don't overtake it, my theory being that weeds act like camouflage; no critters realize there's actually good stuff growing in my garden.

The actual harvest comes like a surprising afterthought. Here's a picture of the tomatoes that seem to be doing their thing without a whole lot of encouragement from me, along with some beans, sweet peas, and cucumbers:

It's not exactly brain surgery...I planted some beans, tomatoes, sweet peas, and cucumbers, and that is what is growing in my garden. 

But stay with me here...we're about to go deep. 

Sometimes in life, we plant into certain fields and we stare and we wait and we see nothing. No evidence of anything growing at all. We plant into relationships, into events, into careers, into hobbies...all sorts of things that take our time and attention and seem to be, well, fruitless. 

Then, one day, we look, and something has happened. Fruit is borne. Only it doesn't happen in the way that would make sense to us. The Bible tells us that nothing we ever do for the Lord is wasted, that our efforts are seen by Him and appreciated, and that if we do not grow weary, we will see a harvest. 

This is the sight that greeted me the other day as I walked past my garden: 

This little guy is growing outside the fence. I did not plant him on purpose; he birthed from a stray seed left behind by a rotting tomato last year. A harvest where I wasn't trying to plant. 

I have a feeling that there is a whole lot of harvest that I didn't plant intentionally going on around me, if I just have eyes to see it. How about we look around together?