“Lessons in the Lettuce”
A man planted a garden with a variety of seeds and buds greater than that of any garden on Earth. When he had finished sowing the seeds, he watered and tended the garden with great care for many months. His faithful care and the provision of nature’s rain and sunlight caused the plants to grow speedily and in the best of health. The weeks of late summer arrived and the man would often look out over his garden, beholding the swaying harbor of green blossoming. Though he ate well off of the stores he kept through winter and spring, the prospect of young tomatoes, sweet carrots, and tender green beans tempted him toward the end of every day when he was most weary from his labor.
After a day of exceptionally difficult toil in the fields, the tired man returned home through the back gate which stood near the entrance of the garden. Oh, the scent of the cabbage! Oh, how the stems of the potato plants had grown and were beginning to show the fullness of the earth apples below his feet! And yes, how lovely the lettuce stood, leaves broad before the failing sunlight. It was a sight strong enough to entice even the boldest and stead-fast of souls. So great was the feast of green spread before the man that walking away empty-handed became a sure impossibility. Walking as one who hides a great secret he made straight for the tomatoes. His hand struck at the nearest crimson orb. Even now he cannot understand why so heavy a guilt encompassed his heart as he took hold and pulled. What a surprise when the tomato pulled back!
“Sir! Sir I do say unhand me this very moment!” What else could the humble farmer do but pull his hand back twice as quickly as he had reached out? He stumbled back. The tomato bobbed up and down before coming to a rest as two clever-looking eyes and a broad mouth formed out of the waxy flesh.
“Sir! Sir I do say unhand me this very moment!” What else could the humble farmer do but pull his hand back twice as quickly as he had reached out? He stumbled back. The tomato bobbed up and down before coming to a rest as two clever-looking eyes and a broad mouth formed out of the waxy flesh.
“How dare you pick me, sir?! Have you no good sense? I am red enough for looks, yes, but I am at least two weeks away from ripeness! I should be thankful indeed that my stem is much stronger now and able to resist your greed and gluttony. Why, you are worse than the deer that prance through the garden and nibble as they please. Half of this vine has been lost to their unchecked feeding!” Silence stood. I don’t have to describe to you how shocked and dumbfounded the farmer was. Finally he managed to form what we might accept as a phrase of surprise.
“You can talk!” exclaimed the farmer.
“Aye, I can. It seems I’m also quite better at it than you.”
“I…I am sorry. I’m used to staring at you, not conversing.” There was but a moment of pause as his eyes filled with a most-greedy twinkle. “And what a beautiful tomato you are! Why, you could tell me all the secrets of tomatoes. How to grow them, how often to water them, and what type of vine bracing proves the most fruitful…pardon the pun.” Again, a moment of dreadful silence stood. Being the more daring of the two, the tomato was the first to break the stillness.
“You, sir, do indeed deserve all the shame those of your race can give!” The tomato turned ‘round and faced the whole of the garden to speak. His voice sounded like a horn of war. “Awake, all of you awake and look upon this worm of a man who calls himself our keeper.” As soon as the tomato cried out the entire garden stirred with life not of its own. Carrots and potatoes burrowed skyward and shook off the cool soil to reveal smoky eyes near their stems and roots. String beans stood erect like trumpets and even the strawberries which were planted quite near to the farm-house turned ‘round to gaze upon the farmer who started to quiver where he stood.
“Why do you covet us when your storehouses are yet full of last year’s most gracious harvest?” Could you not wait a few more weeks? When the harvest arrives the fullness of this garden will be made altogether available to you. Until then, let us grow! Let us blossom and stretch. Farmer, let the Earth’s good gift be made complete. We grow for your sake, farmer. We grow for your sake.”
It may have well been an hour that the farmer stood in silence. His eyes bore holes into the boots on his feet. He became so full of shame he could have sown a bushel of seeds into the hole in his heart. He did not look up for a moment and so did not see a thousand pairs of eyes slowly slip back into green and red and brown bodies. Night came and he crept to his bed. His sorrow was complete, but not because he’d been told off by a tomato. Rather, he sank into a slumber of shame because he had attempted to take what was intended for him long before the season of harvest had arrived. He failed to realize that even men must obey the seasons of sowing, reaping, and harvest. To violate them is to lose far more than the crops of the field and the bounty of the soil.
O God, grant us patience to bear the seasons of our lives as they begin and end in accordance with Your will. May we not be hasty, but embrace the seasons of growth and change, holding fast to the hope of the harvest to come. This we ask through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
“You can talk!” exclaimed the farmer.
“Aye, I can. It seems I’m also quite better at it than you.”
“I…I am sorry. I’m used to staring at you, not conversing.” There was but a moment of pause as his eyes filled with a most-greedy twinkle. “And what a beautiful tomato you are! Why, you could tell me all the secrets of tomatoes. How to grow them, how often to water them, and what type of vine bracing proves the most fruitful…pardon the pun.” Again, a moment of dreadful silence stood. Being the more daring of the two, the tomato was the first to break the stillness.
“You, sir, do indeed deserve all the shame those of your race can give!” The tomato turned ‘round and faced the whole of the garden to speak. His voice sounded like a horn of war. “Awake, all of you awake and look upon this worm of a man who calls himself our keeper.” As soon as the tomato cried out the entire garden stirred with life not of its own. Carrots and potatoes burrowed skyward and shook off the cool soil to reveal smoky eyes near their stems and roots. String beans stood erect like trumpets and even the strawberries which were planted quite near to the farm-house turned ‘round to gaze upon the farmer who started to quiver where he stood.
“Why do you covet us when your storehouses are yet full of last year’s most gracious harvest?” Could you not wait a few more weeks? When the harvest arrives the fullness of this garden will be made altogether available to you. Until then, let us grow! Let us blossom and stretch. Farmer, let the Earth’s good gift be made complete. We grow for your sake, farmer. We grow for your sake.”
It may have well been an hour that the farmer stood in silence. His eyes bore holes into the boots on his feet. He became so full of shame he could have sown a bushel of seeds into the hole in his heart. He did not look up for a moment and so did not see a thousand pairs of eyes slowly slip back into green and red and brown bodies. Night came and he crept to his bed. His sorrow was complete, but not because he’d been told off by a tomato. Rather, he sank into a slumber of shame because he had attempted to take what was intended for him long before the season of harvest had arrived. He failed to realize that even men must obey the seasons of sowing, reaping, and harvest. To violate them is to lose far more than the crops of the field and the bounty of the soil.
O God, grant us patience to bear the seasons of our lives as they begin and end in accordance with Your will. May we not be hasty, but embrace the seasons of growth and change, holding fast to the hope of the harvest to come. This we ask through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
See you tomorrow - E.T.
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