Bearing Fruit...or vegetables

This year my husband, Matt, and I planted our first garden.  So needless to say we are very "green" in knowing what to do, how to do it, and when to do all the gardening stuff.  We have heard a very wide range of opinions on how to do a garden from how big it should be to what we should plant.  So our original plans were to have a very small garden as in a 10 foot by 12 foot garden.  We thought, " This is give us the joy of gardening without the responsibility of watering, pulling weeds and then "harvesting" the goods.  Well Matt and I both usually do things bigger than we originally intend so naturally our garden grew to a respectable 20 foot by 30 foot garden with an additional area for cantaloup and watermelon with room to add if we want.    

Here is Havah and Josiah "helping" daddy plant more corn.  (Havah was helping, Josiah was eating dirt, rocks and sticks.  Please notice that Havah is wearing a tutu to help.)

Anyway, the Lord has taught me so much from this bigger than expected garden.  Hopefully over the next few days I will be able to share some of the lessons learned.  But first let me set the "ground work" for you.  Sorry I can't help myself from using gardening puns and cliches, it's too easy. :)  

Over the past few years the Lord has shared with me over and over again about the fruits of the Spirit.  You know, Galatians 5:22,"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."  Some of these fruits come as a gift so to speak and others...well lets just say they are still being cultivated.  I hope I am not the only one who has some work to do.  So in thinking about fruit, I think about it being sweet and refreshing.  My husband can admit to you that sometimes my "fruit" is not always sweet or refreshing.  If you have ever tried to grow anything you realize quickly that this is a process.  It doesn't happen overnight!  So just as we have to wait for our watermelons and cantaloup to grow I also have to grow in these other fruits.  

That's hard!  Especially when I have to apologize to my kids for not being long-suffering and loosing my peace.  It's so not easy but I think it comes with time.  Time in the Word, time in prayer, time in practice.  So even though I am still learning I am still growing.  

  This is some of our harvest :)  Peppers, tomatoes, corn and squash.  Yummy!

See, eating sticks :)  

Havah was focused.