It’s okra season at the garden. It’s been okra season for a while, and it appears the season is not yet over!! As with many gardeners, this year has produced an abundance of okra! I’m sharing with you today, a Giving Garden Update I wrote during the 2019 okra season. Enjoy!
I saw Jesus at the garden this morning. I not only saw him, but I also heard him. He spoke to me and gave me the subject of this Update.
I was cutting okra. I love to cut okra. It’s very therapeutic, easy to do, and quite rewarding. I’ll admit that I don’t particularly like to eat okra, but I do like to harvest it.
The blooms of the okra plant are gorgeous. The soft yellow color petals surround a vibrant burgundy and white center. The leaves are a dark lush green, often larger than an open hand. But the problem with okra and these lush leaves is that they often hide the fruit – the produce we harvest. It is so easy to walk alongside a row of okra plants and miss seeing the okra. This made me think about Jesus. He wasn’t necessarily hiding, but when he walked upon the earth, he was often overlooked. He was present but often not seen. He didn’t stand out. He was like the okra, right there on the plant, ready to serve others, but needing us to seek him.
Harvesting okra is a 2-handed job; you need to hold the fruit with one hand and clip the stem with the other. You need to be all in. Jesus wants us to be all in when we seek him. You have to touch the leaves, move them around and look to find the okra. Jesus wants us to reach out and touch the untouched; he wants us to look with our eyes and see those in need that are often hidden in our society. Okra grows very fast so we have to cut it every other day. It’s continually setting tiny fruit that will be harvestable in just a few days. Jesus’ love is continual. Just when we think he has given his best he supplies us with even more.
I don’t want to be sacrilegious, but this parable of the okra might just remind me that I don’t have to be in the church building to see and hear Jesus. Today we met in the garden!
See you in the garden,
Marie Hurley