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God said, "See, I have given you every plant
yielding seed that is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you
shall have them for food. Gen 1:29
Every suburban or
urban dweller who doesn't work in agriculture
should make at least two visits to a u-pick-it
farm a year.
We have developed
such a culture of consumers, that many of us have
little appreciation of the abundance with which
God has graced us. Fresh fruit means going to the
local supermarket. For what is there to be
thankful? A convenient parking space? Extended
operating hours? A short line at the check-out?
That's all "stuff" of human endeavor that we tend
to take for granted.
But visit a
u-pick-it to gather your own produce. Spend a
couple of hours in the fields engaged in hide and
seek with the fresh vegetables and fruits. The
wonder of food on the table engages your spirit.
The smells are the
first things that grab you; earthiness, sweetness
of some produce and acridness of others, merging
of smells baking under the sun.
Then there is the
dirt itself; wondrous! Living things just spring
up out of it. Add to that the variety of growing
things, and the intricacy of the design of each.
And all of it is both aided and assaulted by
legions of insects of endless diversity and
intricacy.
The effort of
finding fruits or vegetables at just the right
freshness and picking so as to not waste any
offers a challenge. And you pick enough for a few
pies, or a couple of dinners... while being
reminded that the produce you take for granted is
the result of human effort working within God’s
creation hours upon hours to bring it to your
table.
What does this have
to do with stewardship? THE formula: God created
everything that exists. He created us in his
image, to do his work, and to have dominion over
all creation, and to glorify him. That makes us
stewards with the responsibility to doing as God
would have us do.
So much of
stewardship seems rather abstract. The u-pick-it
makes it very concrete. It is hard to appreciate
the wonder of the gift that God made in Genesis
when it comes in a package at the local Super
Foodmart. It is just another commodity for our
consumption. But get out into the field.
Appreciate the wonder of the springing of the
produce from the soil. Appreciate the toil that it
takes to make the produce available for purchase.
Appreciate the effort that the chef exerts to
prepare the food for the table.
The lyric from
Godspell, “How shall we sing, sing the Lord’s
song, in a foreign land?” based on Psalm 137
suddenly plays through my mind. The foreign land
of our consumerist economy, foreign to God’s
economy, conceals the wonder of God’s provision
from us, and with it the cause to live in
thanksgiving. |
