We planted the main garden the second week of March. It looks great this year, and I have already put up what we need and more, and shared with people who probably wish I wouldn’t any more.
When the cantaloupe row came up, which is Keith’s baby, he was happy to see it full with no bare spots. I heard about it the day he saw the first bloom. Then a couple of weeks later he came in with a funny look on his face.
“Let me show you something,” he said, and I followed him out the door straight to that row of cantaloupes. “Look at those baby cantaloupes.” So I bent over, lifted the leaves and looked, only to discover baby cucumbers instead. He had gone out to plant without his glasses and used up the remains of what he thought was a packet of cantaloupe seeds on the first two hills. Turns out that packet, which did not have a picture let me hasten to add, must have said, “Cucumber.” So the first two hills in the cantaloupe row are cucumbers.
Is that bad? Well, yes and no. I already had plenty of cucumber hills planted, and these two extra hills are some of the most prolific bearers I have ever seen. I have made my pickles and still my refrigerator is overflowing.
And it turns out these two hills are the best tasting of the bunch. But since he tossed that empty packet of “cantaloupe” seeds, we have no idea what kind they were. I have been experimenting with new varieties the past two years and these were leftovers from the year before.
Then there is the fact that his row is two hills short of cantaloupe, which to him is a catastrophe. So what can we learn from all this?
Well, I doubt he will ever forget to wear his glasses when he plants the garden again. But what about us?
I suppose the obvious point is this—you will reap what you sow. Thinking it is cantaloupe won’t make cucumber seeds produce them. That old “sowing his wild oats” adage is the stupidest thing I ever heard. All he will get, whoever he is, is wild oats. You don’t “get it out of your system” and think you will produce anything else. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
What are you sowing in your children? What do they hear you say? Please do not make the mistake of thinking they do not pick up on sarcastic comments and hypercritical statements, even at a very early age. Children tend to think that everything that goes wrong is their fault, usually because they have to deal with the foul tempers of parents who take it out on them.
What about their entertainment? What words are being sown in their active little minds? What ideas? What priorities? What character traits? Do you even know what they are watching?
What about their friends? I have had children in my home whose parents never once called or even darkened my door. One time I had a young man for the whole weekend. He came home with my sons on Friday and we put him on the bus Monday morning! We didn’t mind a bit, but where was his mama?
What about yourself? What are you sowing? What is your entertainment? What is your reading material? Where do you go and with whom? If you find yourself saying things you never said before, maybe it’s time to change friends. They are sowing more in you than you are in them.
Check the seed packet this morning before you go out. Check it again when you come in. Make sure you are sowing the seed of the Word of God, not only in your friends, but in your children, and in yourself. And put on your glasses when you do.
For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind…Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap according to kindness…Hos 8:7; 10:12.
Just a note here. We have recently discovered that some of our articles on the right sidebar have been deleted. We are not certain when or how this happened. Please bear with us as we try to put three years worth of work back together, and if you have any suggestions or ideas, they are welcome!
Dene Ward
When the cantaloupe row came up, which is Keith’s baby, he was happy to see it full with no bare spots. I heard about it the day he saw the first bloom. Then a couple of weeks later he came in with a funny look on his face.
“Let me show you something,” he said, and I followed him out the door straight to that row of cantaloupes. “Look at those baby cantaloupes.” So I bent over, lifted the leaves and looked, only to discover baby cucumbers instead. He had gone out to plant without his glasses and used up the remains of what he thought was a packet of cantaloupe seeds on the first two hills. Turns out that packet, which did not have a picture let me hasten to add, must have said, “Cucumber.” So the first two hills in the cantaloupe row are cucumbers.
Is that bad? Well, yes and no. I already had plenty of cucumber hills planted, and these two extra hills are some of the most prolific bearers I have ever seen. I have made my pickles and still my refrigerator is overflowing.
And it turns out these two hills are the best tasting of the bunch. But since he tossed that empty packet of “cantaloupe” seeds, we have no idea what kind they were. I have been experimenting with new varieties the past two years and these were leftovers from the year before.
Then there is the fact that his row is two hills short of cantaloupe, which to him is a catastrophe. So what can we learn from all this?
Well, I doubt he will ever forget to wear his glasses when he plants the garden again. But what about us?
I suppose the obvious point is this—you will reap what you sow. Thinking it is cantaloupe won’t make cucumber seeds produce them. That old “sowing his wild oats” adage is the stupidest thing I ever heard. All he will get, whoever he is, is wild oats. You don’t “get it out of your system” and think you will produce anything else. “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
What are you sowing in your children? What do they hear you say? Please do not make the mistake of thinking they do not pick up on sarcastic comments and hypercritical statements, even at a very early age. Children tend to think that everything that goes wrong is their fault, usually because they have to deal with the foul tempers of parents who take it out on them.
What about their entertainment? What words are being sown in their active little minds? What ideas? What priorities? What character traits? Do you even know what they are watching?
What about their friends? I have had children in my home whose parents never once called or even darkened my door. One time I had a young man for the whole weekend. He came home with my sons on Friday and we put him on the bus Monday morning! We didn’t mind a bit, but where was his mama?
What about yourself? What are you sowing? What is your entertainment? What is your reading material? Where do you go and with whom? If you find yourself saying things you never said before, maybe it’s time to change friends. They are sowing more in you than you are in them.
Check the seed packet this morning before you go out. Check it again when you come in. Make sure you are sowing the seed of the Word of God, not only in your friends, but in your children, and in yourself. And put on your glasses when you do.
For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind…Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap according to kindness…Hos 8:7; 10:12.
Just a note here. We have recently discovered that some of our articles on the right sidebar have been deleted. We are not certain when or how this happened. Please bear with us as we try to put three years worth of work back together, and if you have any suggestions or ideas, they are welcome!
Dene Ward
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