Wilted Glory

Wilted Glory

Every year we are guaranteed to receive one bumper crop. The Australian summer is long and hot and zucchini’s joyfully thrive in such a perfect growing season. This year would be no different. I was eagerly planting out the large seeds, that would germinate quickly, into seed raising mixture inside small, plastic containers. With great enthusiasm I watched their first leaves unfurl and reach for the azure sky. I could envision the many zucchinis I was going to happily harvest that year. I would grow medium sized zucchinis, that I would fry up with onions and fresh homegrown tomatoes. I would store the fried zucchinis away in the freezer, to be enjoyed throughout winter. I would grow very large zucchinis, approximately a foot long, and we would then call them marrows. These marrows would have a tough, hard skin which I would peel; the seeds I would discard as pulp and the rest I would cut into larger cubes. I would busily blanch them and freeze them, to add to warm vegetable soups in the colder season. I would enjoy small, steamed dark green zucchinis that would melt in my mouth at dinner time. Yes, the dream of future zucchinis and their abundance danced with delight across my mind as the seedlings grew their adult leaves and longed to be planted permanently out in the great outdoors. 

It was fool proof. We had grown zucchinis in abundance for many years in the different locations we had lived.They were the one crop we could always count on. They are hardy, prolific producers and a versatile vegetable to grow. I was keen to transplant my sturdy seedlings in the heat of an early summer. Once in the vegetable garden themselves, they took off at a sprint, growing almost before our eyes. Fast and furiously they grew a profusion of luxurious, large, green leaves. Each plant spread wide and strong. Finally, with much pleasure, I noticed the first brightly golden flowers growing at the base of the leafy stems. They were all male flowers  to start with and with patience I waited for the female flowers to bloom and the bees to pollinate. With wonder I watched tiny finger like baby zucchinis start to grow, with the splash of a yellow cupped flower at the end of each one.

Then it happened. They stopped growing. Every day I would race outside to water my zucchinis and measure their growth. Nothing. They were 3-4 inches long and stagnant in size. Why? How can my bumper, fool proof crop be languishing? Then the rot set in. Starting at the flower attached end, my zucchinis started to pale and then yellow. They were fast deteriorating. I looked carefully at the glorious flush of bright, green leaves and noticed the stems seemed wilted. The leaves were not held so high any more. My plants took on a sad, down trodden appearance struggling to reach up in proud nobility. Before my eyes vanished the glory of my amazing abundant crop. What had gone wrong? Google had the answer. My plants were lacking in an important mineral. The soil had become depleted of calcium. Calcium was needed to strengthen the structure of the stems holding up the umbrella styled leaves. Calcium was needed to provide the basic construction of the zucchini itself. Without the calcium, my plants could not produce the fruit they needed. Without the calcium the plants could no longer thrive, and surely but slowly the life was fading away within them. We applied the necessary mineral to the soil, watering it in and then spraying the plants weekly to continue to encourage them to produce at their maximum potential. 

Sometimes it seems that I can have a “fool proof” Christianity. I can have an expectancy of fruit in my life from a thriving Christian environment. I can surround myself with church activities, church attendance, Christian television, Christian radio and Christian music. I can fill my life up with encouraging Christian friends and read amazing Christian books that motivate and inspire me. However, I can become stagnant in my experience. I can fade away slowly and sense a distance between God and I. What has happened? Where did I go wrong? God quietly whispers to my heart the need of my soul. It is His calcium. The milk of the Word. He wants to build within me a strength in Him. He wants me to produce fruit in an abundance of joyfulness. I need the calcium in my life. God calls me to come apart with Him each day, to pick up His Word, to read it, to study it, to prayerfully absorb it deep within. Will I do that? Will you do that?  Will we allow the milk of the Word to build us up in Christ? 

1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

Deut 11:18 “Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul..”

Ezekiel 3:10 “Moreover, He said to me, "Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I will speak to you and listen closely.”