Volunteer Plants

In my garden there is a tomato plant that is different from the rest. He sprouted out of my compost from an old store-bought tomato I threw away. He is what gardeners call a "volunteer plant". This happens a lot actually, and I usually just pull them up and toss them back down into the compost. This little guy was different though, he already had his true leaves by the time I found him. He already resembled a growing tomato plant. So in an act of mercy I put him in my garden, gave him a spot along the soaker hose, and even gave him his own official tomato-cage just like the others. Everything a growing tomato plant could ever want.

He was doing great, totally exceeding my expectations. He even sent out little yellow flowers that would someday soon become juicy tomatoes... that is until last thursday, when the daytime temp jumped above 90 for a few hours for the first time. Heat like this can cause tomatoes to drop their flowers.

For now, he is still there growing taller than all the others... producing nothing but leaves.

He reminds me of myself sometimes. The way I have been saved by grace, how I have been thoroughly provided for, and how I have been included in something much bigger than myself. Yet despite all this, I can sometimes still fail to produce anything God would consider as "fruit" in my life... I can send out flowers in faith, only to drop them when things get hot...

So, I have decided to keep him rather than bury him in the compost. Who knows, it might still stay in the 80's long enough for him to set fruit. I am thankful and am alive now only because God has had a similar patience with me.