June 29, 2017
Hello Dear Friends!
This week you will have the beginning of the apricots. For some rea-son, these apricots tend to get over ripe on one side and look light green on the other outside even when completely ripe. I tend to leave them on the tree and then they are squishy on one side and ripe on the other. Not a perfect apricot. But I think they taste wonderful! I suggest tasting them and then letting them sit on your counter a few days if you like sweeter fruit. You can eat them up quick or freeze them until you have enough to make an apricot cobbler or apricot jam or sorbet from them. More next week. Smoothies are great too!
Thank you Becky for providing a Modesto pick up spot: 1717 Castilla Way in Modesto. Call Becky at: 743-0523
Feel free to text or call either of us Cindi : 607-1887 or Keith : 607-1896
Just About Ripe
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Nectarines
Insights Gleaned from Home and Garden
Picking Fruit and Pulling Weeds
By Cindi J. Martin
Keith and I just celebrated 33 years of marriage. Hurray!! We watched our wedding video and laughed and cried. My best girlfriend and I celebrated 40 years of friendship this year. That may seem like “young love” for some of you who have been married close to 50 years and for those of you with childhood friends that have spanned your lifetime. But I wonder if you would agree with me that it is by God’s grace that we continue to pick and enjoy the beautiful ripening fruit of those enduring relationships? They are not a given. They are not to be taken for granted. It is not without the continual, unrelenting hard work of “weed picking” in our garden of relationship communication. Communication is such a simple word, but it is such an effort even after years of practice. Yes, some things do get easier. But God humbles me frequently in a new relationship that is not “practiced” or when I neglect to pick a relational weed! Suddenly, I am a novice all over again.
I was reminded of this as I was out in the garden early this morning scanning for Bermuda grass among our tomato, squash, green bean, cucumber, and watermelon plants. I was reminded how much easier it is to pick out weeds when they are small. Left unattended even a few days, they surprise me with how quickly they mature, how deeply they grow roots, how adept they are at casting their seeds to multiply in my good garden soil!! If I am not vigilant, constantly scanning for and removing noxious weeds, they gladly compete with and drain my vegetables of vital nutrients.
In relationships there are two huge weeds I scan for every day: a lack of gratitude and failure to address hurts. I have to ask myself daily, “Have I said thank you to Keith today? How can I tell him and show him how grateful I am for who he is and what he does for me today?” Then I scan my thoughts and emotions for signs of any disappointment, frustration or anger. God and I look for my responsibility in the various conflicts and whether it is resolved or whether I need to bring some-thing into the light with my friend?* Am I willing to do this in a timely manner so it does not become bitterness, resentment, or a critical spirit? Or am I avoiding picking this particular weed and hoping it will just go away and die of its own ac-cord? Distance and a lack of intimacy in my relationships often signal to me that I have an unattended weed sapping the strength out of the Lord’s planting in my relational garden! It may be time to get emotionally honest, naked, and unashamed in HIS Relationship Garden so the joy of intimacy can be restored.
“Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.”
Ephesians 4:25-26
*For a great discussion of unhindered fellowship, read Roy Hession’s The Calvary Road, pp.35-55.
