...but I was not! So I have a pea growing follow-up… they grew!!
Their little tendrils and
my makeshift chicken wire growing fence worked.
And my goodness did they grow!
They were as tall as me- it was like a pea jungle out there. At the
farmer’s market I even saw that you can eat the pea greens. I did not try this, but I know now that it is
a future possibility.
So the next lesson I learned is about harvesting. The peas came in over a period of a week or two. They were so sweet right off the vine. My dad told me that peas have some enzyme
that makes them start tasting bad or something like that starting as soon as
you pick them. So I was trying to delay
picking them until I was exactly ready to eat them or pack them for a
snack. But something horrible
happened! The plants were done. Peas are a cooler weather crop and as the
temperature heated up, the plants were drying up.
On a Sunday I had tried to pick off a lot of the sweet pods
while starting to pull out the plant to make room for my summer plants. I didn’t
have enough time and was planning to take care of the rest later in the week. When I came back to them most of the yummy
green juicy pods had turned into tough brown dried out stuff. No, not my peas!!! I had missed my golden (or green) picking
opportunity! Ugh, I ended up having to
toss the plants with a lot of brown pods into the compost heap where they will
heat up and rot on down instead of getting to enjoy them.
Then I realized how true is this of Jesus’ words as he sent
out his disciples in Matthew 9:37-38 “Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is plentiful but the
workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to
send out workers into his harvest field.”
And
in Ecclesiastes 3:2- there is a TIME to harvest. There is a time in people’s
lives to invite them into a life with Jesus that we need to be aware of. Jesus said it- the harvest is there but the workers
are few… what does this look like? We
need to be praying more to be aware of our role and the perfect time in
harvesting. It means I can’t wait until I am ready (on my time), but need to be
willing to sacrifice instead when the harvest is ready. We need to take
advantage of that time and chance we are given- then and there… cause even
waiting a few days can lose the opportunity of when that harvest was
ready. I love that my garden teaches me
life lessons.
