One Tomato Plant
by Pastor Louise Stromberg
This year I bought one tomato plant so that I could have a few small tomatoes for a salad each week. I expected to pick about a half a dozen a week at most. By the time I remembered to purchase a tomato rack, my plant had grown rather large. So I put the plant around the rack as best I could.
Buds were already forming into little tomatoes. The plant continued to grow and I waited expectantly for the sweet, red fruit to ripen.
The first time I went to pick the ripe tomatoes, I brought a small bowl. By the end, the bowl was filled and overflowing. I took a small zip-lock bag of tomatoes to work to share. I went out to pick about a week later and had enough to fill a mixing bowl. I took three bags to work to share.
Not even a week later, I picked two mixing bowls full. This time I brought an ice cream container of sweet, red fruit to share. My tomato plant continued to bear an abundance of tomatoes throughout the season. As I thought about my expectations and the reality of the harvest, I realized that this was a wonderful example of God’s abundant blessings. God gave far beyond my hopes. The more I shared the tomatoes with others, the more this plant seemed to produce.
How is this abundance similar to God’s love? The more we share God’s love and blessings, the more God gives us to share. Whether we share a witness to God’s love for us or gifts of material wealth, God blesses all that we share. God never forgets to shower us with continued love and gifts that sustain us and our existence on this earth.
From The Lutheran magazine... If you feel you don’t have enough to give, listen to Basil, a fourth-century bishop, among those who developed Christian teaching on the Trinity: “What is a thief? One who takes what belongs to others. Why do you not consider yourself a thief when you claim as your own what you received in trust? The bread that you withhold belongs to the poor; the cape that you hide in your chest belongs to the naked; the shoes rotting in your house belong to those who go unshod.”
Remember the NEAR Food Shelf this month. They are struggling to meet the needs of the increasing numbers coming to the food shelf.
NEAR Food Shelf
A non-profit volunteer organization, NEAR responds to the emergency needs of people in our community. Through a cooperative effort of eleven area churches, volunteers provide an emergency food shelf and limited financial assistance to residents of northern Robbinsdale, Crystal, and New Hope who live between 42nd and 62nd Avenues North.
The pickin’s are slim. To donate food, the Near Food Shelf is now located at 5209 West Broadway in Crystal, MN.
Visit: NEAR Foodshelf »
First Lutheran Church of Crystal is a member of the ELCA.
Summer Worship
Sunday: 9:30 a.m.
Education Hour
Adult Education
Resumes in the fall
First Lutheran Church of Crystal
7708 - 62nd Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428
(763) 537-4576 (phone)
(763) 537-0372 (fax)
