Veggie Tales

 

“So when the Samaritans came to Him, they begged Him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days….After spending two days there, Jesus left and went to Galilee.”—John 4:40, 43

Wait, that’s it? Where’s the action? Two days here and a journey there, and when it’s Jesus at the center of it all, there must have been a lot of exciting things going on. Probably a lot, but probably just as many hours of not. It’s true that the Word of God is as alive and active as it has ever been, but despite what our imagination may crave, we forget that the Bible is not always an action movie. We forget that there are days upon days of silence, of routine, of apparently not much going on. And that’s a good thing—it’s something we can all hold onto whenever it feels like a long season of routine and you begin to wonder if your spiritual life is all right...

And so God created tomatoes.

Days and seasons of routine and not-much-going-on can be a lot like watching tomato plants each spring and summer. Not much seems to be happening from day to day, but then quietly, a little yellow blossom, then a fruit or two appears and then it seems to take forever for them to ripen…but you know that they will because that is how God made tomato plants.

A nice veggie tale perhaps, until you think of those tomato plants as a God encounter in your own life on a routine day, when He is painting a picture of the importance of staying faithful in the daily grind of not much happening. “Hurry up, we want those tomatoes!” We want to see fruit in our lives and we want to see it now… But the Word answers: 

"But GROW in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).

And don't forget, “that He who BEGAN a good work in you will bring to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6).

Even when our spiritual life doesn’t feel like an action movie, it’s good to remember that as with those tomato plants, fruitful growth often is deepest during the waiting, and that instead of rushing things we are called to “WALK [day by day] in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10)

Lord, no matter the season, help us to remember that You are in them all, and to look for You in the smallest details of this day, this life—in tomato plants and apples on branches and in Your creation all around us, and even in what we think are routine encounters and conversations but where one encouraging or confirming word said in passing seems like an arrow from Your quiver to our heart that will help us…grow. 

“Daily life is a continual and increasing revelation of God.”

—Thomas Keating