Summertime. Homegrown tomatoes. I crave them. I can taste them in my mind during the off-season – especially when I have to settle for a less-than-fresh version. During the summer it seems I plan more meals with tomatoes in mind so that I can capture as much as possible while they are available. And EVERY time I bite into one, I literally think or say, “you can taste the sunshine.” The flavor simply cannot be replicated. To grow into their bold, beautiful, tasty selves, they need good soil, water, and lots of sun!
I grew up on a farm. A big one. The size of our garden is probably exaggerated in my adult mind, but I remember how huge it was and how much I loved working in it. My favorite part was harvesting. I didn’t even seem to mind getting hot and sweaty when gathering ripe vegetation because I loved the fresh fruit and vegetables so, so much! (To make a point, I generally HATE being hot and sweaty on any other occasion.) Many days we would choose whatever was ripe that particular day and incorporate it into the daytime or evening meal. It felt like a buffet to me.
We also raised Charolais cattle. Their hides are entirely white. One summer my aunt and uncle came to visit from out of town. We loved it when they came because we got along so well with our cousins and never wanted our time with them to end. We spent many hours exploring, making up plays, performing for our parents, and yes, sometimes getting into trouble. This particular day, we had spent a lot of time in the barn cooking up several shenanigans. To this day, I’m not sure where the idea originated, but together we herded the cattle into the barn, closed the big metal gate so they couldn’t escape, and took 5-gallon buckets to the garden. To the buffet. The tomatoes. Red and juicy. Lugging our spoils back to the barn, we sat up high on the half-wall and took turns throwing those beautiful ripe tomatoes at the cows to watch the red juice explode onto their white bodies. (Please note: no cows were injured in this event. It only takes a small amount of pressure for a tomato to explode!) It still makes me laugh thinking about it. But what a waste of those glorious fruits! I believe we had to scramble to hose off the cows and shoo them back out to pasture before our parents found out. I was literally an adult before I ever confessed this mess to my dad!
I still laugh at that event, but I also want to cry at the waste of what now is a treasure to me – fresh tomatoes! The flavor is irreplaceable. And the fact that they are a true seasonal item makes them all the more special.
The purity of a homegrown tomato reminds me that it takes God’s spirit in us to create the flavor we bring to others. When we try and strive to do things out of our own strength, we end up tasting like a hydroponic substitute. It’s still a tomato and may fool some because of its appearance, but the flavor is just not truly authentic.
We can’t make our own fruit of the Spirit. That’s why it’s called the fruit of the Spirit. It is supernaturally cultivated and needs time to develop in natural elements. One day of sunshine won’t produce a bumper crop of succulent tomatoes. It’s day after day of exposure that results in the prize. And letting the crop rot on the vine or drip from the side of a white cow won’t provide the sustenance intended for others. God created us for relationship, so the character he is developing in us is for the benefit of others, not so we can cross a skill off of a bucket list.
Are you trying to be more patient? Have you been praying for more peace? I have learned that God never allows me to wake one day and “put on” fruit. He gives me opportunities to practice it. To grow it over time. To become the authentic flavor of his character that extends beyond myself to others. I know I sure can appreciate when I taste the flavors of Jesus in others who have allowed Him to work his fruit into their lives. And I am put off when I get a fabricated version. Jesus tells us in John 15:1-5 (NIV) “I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
Paul also reminds us that “God can do anything you know – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” Ephesians 3:20 (MSG)
Basically, all this fruit, literal and spiritual, needs the power of the creative Spirit to form and develop into what it’s intended to be. And when it comes from that source, you can taste the sunshine!
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