Let in the light! Part I

3:52 p.m. Today's project was to take advantage of the moderate weather and rid the garden of old dead tomato and cucumber vines as the growing season is gradually closing for the year. I had thought of attending a sorority luncheon in Redlands, but the 30 minute drive bookending the 2 hour get-together would be a lot of time gone away from Steve. Besides, weekdays can become so hectic that Saturday needs to be set apart for time to be together!

The vines are still producing, but the yield is less and the fruit is smaller. Steve and I easily pulled out enough dead sections to fill our green waste dumpster. We picked two bags of both green and ripe tomatoes, peppers, two cantaloupes, a cucumber and tomatillos. These lovely flowering plants now seem to be on a second growth spurt. Wish this little "second wind" had happened the week before the August party...would have saved me a trip to Smart & Final to buy tomatillos for salsa!

As we cleared away dead woody stems and branches, I noticed that a lot more light became available to the healthy plants that remain. I discovered a chili pepper plant that hadn't even grown past seedling stage, as overshadowed as it was. I found unpicked green beans and bell peppers. But my great hope in exposing the remaining plants to more light, is that the nasty, destructive little critters like slugs and worms that love shade will slink away, or burn up in the sun!! Is that mean?

There are so many references to the presence and rightness of "light" in the Bible.

God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (Psalm 27:1)

Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart (Psalm 97:11)

Your judgments are like light that goes forth (Hosea 6:5)

I am the light of the world (Jesus said of Himself in John 8:12)

Let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12)

For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6)

The face of Jesus Christ! What a picture, what a comfort to know where to look and whom to look to, when things around us loom dark! That is why Matthew 4:16 reminds those of us who were once lost, "The people which sat in darkness saw great light."

"God is light," I John 1:5 says, "and in Him is no darkness at all." As I look forward to the freshening effects of more sunlight on my vegetables, I think of the ill effects of darkness fleeing! Ephesians 5:13-14 states:

All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says,

"Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,

And Christ will give you light."

Thank you, Lord!