It has been the perfect summer. Weather wise it has been consistently hot and humid for a long, long time. It has rained almost exactly when we needed it to and my farmer is in his glory. For heaven’s sake, he had corn that was head high by the forth of July. And in our garden it was at least waist high. He’s such a show off.

It just never ceases to amaze me how we can beg for a drop of rain some years, plead for it to quit in others, and be just near desperate every day for the Lord to show up in some way or another. It is amazing how dependent farmers are on the hand of God.

We’ll just leave the element of two faith filled farmers on either sides of the highway praying for different things…..one for rain for the corn and the other for no rain that will split the cherries….yes, we better leave that alone, for now.

I’m certain He just wants us dependent. Like the Israelites and their manna. We just can’t do anything to change the weather or make the corn grow. Anyway. The thought at hand. There just HAS to be a reason for talking this much, right?

The garden this year is glorious. We’ve had people marvel over and over again at how wonderful the garden looks this year. And it does. The tomato plants are as tall as I am. The raspberries have filled in their row and are laying up for a bumper crop next year. (Do you know how raspberries grow? Next year’s fruit bearing shoots are already visible this year. That has to be a post in itself at some point.) The corn produced 17 quarts of frozen corn in just two short rows. With ears, I kid you not, as long as my forearm and some of them just as thick.

The problem with all this growth, and the pepper plants that have bushed out but have produced nada, is that stuff is just crawlin’ all over each other. The zucchini is crowding out the squash and the pickles have taken over the tomatoes and are crowding the green beans. And for land’s sake we found a PUMPKIN growing at the top of the tomato cage. THE TOP! Mixed in between those plump little dandies was a real deal pumpkin growing. The plants are just staging a coup and taking over whatever they feel like and they just don’t seem to care if they are killing each other.

Reminds me of us. Just doing whatever it takes to rule over our own little kingdoms. Making the warts in myself a little less obvious by getting busy and spreading all over. Until one day, at a time when my guard is down, I open my mouth and come face to face with the real condition of my heart. Something slips out of my mouth that I hardly recognize. A choice morsel to a person who shouldn’t hear. An unkind word to Mike or my kids. A white lie that didn’t even need to be there. A pumpkin, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, at the top of the tomato cage.

I was tempted to leave that pumpkin there just to figure out how big that thing would get and what it would do to the tomatoes! But my farmer did exactly what we all should do, just cull that sucker. Get real mean and pull that thing off. Unwind the tangling vine that is threatening to topple and choke the tomato plant. Draw some hard lines and make some swift cuts to protect and rid us of compromise.

Yes, that’s exactly what needs to be done with that kind of overgrowth. Draw real firm boundaries and just let that pumpkin plant know who is boss.

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