Last night it finally happened. I walked around to the west side of my back yard, through the garden gate and there hanging from one of the vines was a beautiful site to behold: a small, red, grape tomato. The first one of the season. Up until this point I’ve mostly just had a vision for what could be, but last night the vision turned ripe with reality. I love having a garden!

Last night after I picked that tomato, I pulled a few onions from the ground, looked at the beans that will be ready for a first harvest this weekend, and noticed I have several cucumbers that have begun to grow and a few squash that are forming on the ends of their vine. Sure, there are still some weeds that pop through the soil that need pulling, and I still have to inspect plants for harmful little pests, but that’s ok because I’ve begun to see the fruits of my labor. The small reward of “fruit” is a unique inspiration.

I know it’s been a while – ok, a really long time since I’ve posted. You ever just not feel like writing? It’s not that there’s been nothing to write about; I just haven’t felt like writing. I’ve been doing more reading and thinking than writing. When I went to bed last night I reflected on the development of my back-yard garden and I realized I’ve been doing some internal gardening.

I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about grace. For most of my life I’ve had a real passive understanding of grace. By passive I mean that I felt like grace was something I received from God and not something I actively dispensed to others. God’s been gently showing me otherwise. Grace is far from passive. I’m not sure what this grace garden will look like, and I’m not sure when it will blossom. At this point there’s still a lot of weeding and cultivating to do. So I’ll have to keep you posted. In the meantime, I’m going to be eating a lot of tomatoes.