I
love tomatoes! Scratch that. I thought
I loved tomatoes until I ate my first homegrown tomato of the season.
Now I have to say, I love real
tomatos. For the last few years, I've been growing my own tomatoes.
If you have never grown your own tomatoes - oh my goodness I'd have
to say you've never really tasted a tomato the way God made them.
Earlier
this summer I harvested my first tomato of the season and as I stood
in the kitchen slicing into its red, plump goodness my taste buds
were dancing. They knew what was coming. When I popped that wedge
into my mouth it was like natures candy. It was wonderfully sweet
and so full of flavor! The flavor matched the aroma I smelled as a
little girl when the canning factory was stewing tomatoes. I was
astounded at the flavor. As I ate the tomato I stood at the kitchen
sink moaning out loud until it was gone. I was like a kid who was
eating chocolate for the first time.
That
night I prepared a salad for myself for dinner. I did not have any
of the REAL tomato's left so I cut up a tomato I had purchased at the
grocery store. When I popped a wedge in my mouth, it fell flat. I
grimaced. Where was the flavor? Where was the sweet candy goodness?
There was no comparison between the two. I realized I had just
eaten a fake tomato!
That
is when the correlation of truth bloomed on the vine. From October
to June of each year...the tomato's I eat are fake. But as the
months click by I forget how fake they are and once again in my mind
they become real tomatoes again. How quickly I forget the perfection
of a real tomato. Tomato's the way God intended them with the heady
smell of the vine and the sweetness of the meat of the tomato. And
how quickly I am willing to accept an imitation for real. It made me
ponder as I stood there at the kitchen sink...how many other
things has life handed me that are imitations of what God intended?
As
we go through life we begin to yearn for joy and happiness. The
world, like a grocery store, offers an entire joy- “producing
section” from which we can choose. Step right up folks and try
this red, plump tomato! Manufactured just for you...um I mean, GROWN
just for you!
We
are wooed and seduced by what the world has manufactured and tagged
as “joy producing” that we bite into the lie. Careers, prestige,
money, vacations, expensive cars, clothes, hobbies, kids, expensive
weddings, re-creating our bodies, marriage, on and on and on the
selection goes. And for some reason...after a while, the “joy”
dissipates and we find ourselves back in the joy “produce section”
trying to decide on our next selection. It all somehow falls flat
and tasteless as we swallow lie after lie.
We
don't realize all the goodness, all the vitamins, all that was
intended to make our existence on planet earth teeming with life and
reproducing life, the very marrow to life has been sucked out of us
by imposters or “things posing as life”! We walk around trying
to be satisfied living a God-less life which in turn creates a
flavorless, joy-less life.
Stormy
seasons come into our lives uninvited. We hate them and rightly so.
But with God as our traveling companion he desires to offer us
respite along the journey. The kind of respite that - as we travel
through that desert, through that need, through that nothingness...
God presents us with real, genuine, authentic joy inspiring
sustenance. It's when we read his word; when we spend time thanking
him and praising him or when we spend time near him. When we trust
him in spite of what is happening all around us.
Then
and only then - even though our worlds are falling apart, loved ones
die, money disappears or disaster strikes we can experience real joy
and real satisfaction in spite of it all, because of God. In essence,
it is GOD who offers us the real tomato...not the imitations.
Where
in your life have you settled for imitations of love and joy rather
than the real deal from God?
Dear Lord, I ask that you would open our eyes as
we examine our lives. Where have we been tricked into accepting fake
tomatoes as good... allowing the enemy to make us fall in love with
that which is not soul satisfying? Create in us a hunger for only
what is authentic and a great distaste for what is not genuine. For
what is not organically YOU! Show us oh Lord where we've settled for
less than what you created for us in relationships, in life and in
YOU. Lord, may we have hearts who CRAVE the REAL you and may we
settle for nothing less than what you created us to have. In Jesus
powerful name, Amen!
Dori Cass is a wife of 29 years and mom to two adult children. She has spent her adult life active in Womens, Children's and Youth ministry. She finds that she writes a lot about faith which are the nuggets mined up out of a decade long journey in the wilderness walking with a husband whose life changed completely when he was injured on the job as a police officer. You can find her blog at http://heavensconfetti.blogspot.com/
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