In the spring, Granny Smith finally got her four-year old granddaughter to play in the garden. They planted seeds and watered the soil. In the fall, the granddaughter came back for a visit. She screamed with delight at the orange pumpkins, green squash, yellow corn and purple eggplants. 
 “Mommy, Daddy look what we made!”  
 “Oh, dear one,” said Granny, “We planted, but God gave the growth. Neither the one who plants, nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.                                         --1 Corinthians 3:6-7
 
I love the harvest season with the combines out in the fields. I walked through East Lake Park amidst the tall corn and held a cob in my hand. I wondered with “a-maize-ment” at the miracle of the stalk and seeds. The fall reminds me, that although the farmers grow the harvest by carefully preparing the soil, planting in spring and then nourishing them all summer, it’s God’s design that produces fruit from seeds. I don’t know how that works at all. The plants would grow and produce fruit and vegetables in the wild.  Their yield would not be as plentiful without the attention, but still we cannot take any credit for the final products. Farmers manage God’s seeds and fruits, but God created the first fruits and seeds and how they work. However, we do get to add to the abundance.
 
Rev. Robert Blezard writes an article for the Stewardship of Life that fall harvest provides a wonderful metaphor for how we are stewards of all the blessings that God gives us. We know that God has given us wonderful, amazing gifts, such as family, community, church, health, intelligence, time,
 
and relationships. And we also know that we are responsible for caring for them and working hard to provide the ideal conditions under which they will benefit ourselves, our families and our communities. 
 
Blezard shares these gifts that we can tend in the garden of our lives:
● Maintaining the gift of our bodies by eating right, exercising  
  and getting plenty of sleep, we increase the likelihood we
  will live longer, healthier, robust and resilient lives.
 ● Nourishing our gifts of intelligence and wisdom through
  education, reading, exploring, curiosity and continually
  learning, we will be best able to understand and improve
  the world around us.
 ● Cultivating our gift of faith through prayer, worship,
  scripture, generosity, love and service, our lives bear fruits
  of the spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
  generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
  (Galatians 5:22-23).
 ● Loving and tending to our spouses, children, parents,
  siblings and other relatives, we build strong, healthy
  families and develop caring, purposeful individuals who
  can make a difference. 
 Our farmers are stewards of the earth, not only under-standing how to make the most of God’s gift of plant life, but also working tirelessly to achieve it. They are partners with God to create a bounty of blessings for our dinner table.
 We are stewards of our lives, not only understanding how to best use our gifts of time and talent and treasure, but also faithfully striving to make the most of all with which we have been entrusted. We are partners with God to create a bounty of blessings for ourselves, our communities and our world. 
May we be good stewards of God’s blessings to us. 
                                                    Rev. Trey Hegar
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