I guess my favorite food on the entire planet is a juicy, ripe tomato freshly picked from the garden. I’m happy as a lark with that tomato in one hand and a salt shaker in the other. There’s a farmer in our little country church who blesses me with an abundance of tomatoes each year when the season rolls around. I love it!
Last year I decided to try to grow my own tomatoes. I bought tender little plants not even four inches high, and I put them on my screened porch. I tended those little plants every day, and they started growing. I had planned to move them out into the sun when they got bigger, but they were getting some afternoon sun on the porch and it seemed like enough.
Wow did those plants grow! I got so excited thinking about all the delicious tomatoes I would get to eat! When the plants began to bloom, I was really patting myself on the back for doing such a great job tending to them. After all, by that time, they were nearly as tall as I am!
Then the strangest thing happened.
There was no fruit after the bloom. None. Not one tomato on the five plants. I couldn’t believe it! They looked so strong. So I did what we all do. I Googled it. Turns out that tomato plants that don’t receive lots of daily direct sunlight will not produce fruit. The promise of a harvest died because the element needed to flourish was missing.
That really got me thinking.
There’s a scripture in the Bible (Proverbs 14:11) that says we as God’s people should flourish. I wanted a deeper definition of that word, so I looked it up. Here it is:
Flourish:
to grow luxuriantly – thrive
to achieve success – prosper
to be in a state of activity or production
to reach a height of development or influence
I have known some people like that. Have you? They seem to know exactly what their purpose is in life, and they successfully fulfill it. Does that describe you? I hope so! But if you’re like me, taking a hard look at that definition might leave you feeling a little like my back porch tomato plants – looking pretty good on the outside, but feeling inside like there is more to your purpose than what you have produced so far.
God’s plan for us is great; of that I am certain. Each one of us has been given a unique assignment and certain elements needed for us to thrive. That means what satisfies our deepest longing may not make sense to others. That’s okay. It makes perfect sense to the One who put it there. So our task is to dig deep inside to discover the missing element that is preventing our fulfillment. It may be that we are doing what “should” satisfy but is instead leaving us empty. It may require some pruning and repositioning. Perhaps it’s time for us to leave the shade of the screened porch and go stand in the sun.
One thing is certain. It’s time to flourish.
