Dear Friends,

Like everyone who grows fruit and vegetables, my harvest has been affected by the bizarre weather we’ve experienced in recent years.

As an amateur grower of whatever I fancy it’s been a minor inconvenience and a chance to experiment.  I’m fortunate not to depend on my produce for survival. Right now, everything that survived the recent rain seems to have come into its own. Plants I’ve been peering at for months are suddenly growing at an almost alarming rate They almost seem to have forgotten they’re seasonal plants.

Fruit and vegetables are not the only harvest to behave like that. The harvests of our lives can feel the same. We watch, pray and work for a cause or hope that is close to our hearts, seeking to serve God. We seem to wait a long time before things suddenly begin to slot into place – not necessarily as we expected. Or perhaps we’re sure our lives are heading in a certain direction and then something happens, circumstances change, and we’re pushed off course. We still reap a harvest, just not the one we anticipated.

How does this relate to your life?

Has God ever sent you down an unlikely path?

Have your actions ever led to unexpected consequences?

’You reap what you sow,’ says Paul. I pray you will sow love and compassion in your community and reap it tenfold.

A Garden we might plant (Anon, Australia)
First, plant four rows of peas:	Presence; Promptness; Preparation; Perseverance.
Next plant three rows of squash:	Squash gossip; Squash indifference; Squash criticism.
Then, plant five rows of lettuce:	Let us obey rules and regulations; Let us be true to our obligations; Let us be faithful to duty; Let us be loyal and unselfish; Let us love one another.
No garden is complete without turnips:	Turn up at meetings; Turn up with a smile; Turn up with new ideas; Turn up with determination to make everything count for something good and worthwhile.