Garden Lessons: The Squash Plant

It is mid-summer and sitting on our back porch nestled snugly in its pot is a single squash plant.  It is a beautiful plant.  I admire the large gorgeous yellow blossoms it produces.  Its lovely green leaves are strong.  It's a great plant.  It's beautiful to see.

But, in all those blooms, we've not seen any fruit.   A squash plant has two types of flowers, one male and one female.  Some type of pollinator, such as a honeybee, is required to move pollen from the male flower to the female flower.  The flowers are only receptive to pollination for one day.  I haven't observed any honeybees around our squash plant.  Ugh.  This means that I'm going to have to intervene.

What does the squash plant tell me about God?  God is an amazing creator.  He has fashioned so many incredible systems - our own human body made up of the muscular, skeletal, endocrine, circulatory, and other systems in one body.  There is the ecosystem of nature.  And, there are social systems such as the work place, school, and other places where people interact.

Is your church like our squash plant?  Is it gorgeous on the outside but unable to produce fruit?  Are the environmental factors taking their toll?  Is someone going to have to intervene in order to cause the production of fruit?  God has set these systems to work properly.  Our indifference to God and His ways have resulted in some factors that influence the system.

Within any church, there are a multitude of people.  It may be a small group or an expansive group.  In either case, some people have the skills, ability and desire to accomplish one part of the job such as the flowers and  the honeybee.  The flower cannot do the honeybee's job and vice versa.  And sometimes, it takes an outside influence to accomplish the job.  Is God calling you to a specific job within your church?  If so, do your part to produce the fruit.

(Father God, how amazing your creation is.  Your intelligence is evident in the various systems.  O how I long to see it in it's original perfect state.  Help me to work as you designed me.  Thank you.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.)