A few days ago, I jumped out of my seat with a bit of a start. 'Girls, girls! We need to go check the garden!' I called to my girls. Baby C came running to me with her shoes, excitedly squealing 'Outside, too!' As we slipped into our shoes and grabbed a couple of collection containers, we walked hand in hand to our vegetable garden, located near the back fence in our yard.

I hoped everything in the garden was okay. When we planted it in May, we had high hopes for a very fruitful summer. We planted zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and lots of herbs, along with some firey marigolds. At first, our plants were thriving, grew to be so large, and even yielded beautiful fruit and veg. As the heat set in, the squash bugs took over and made their way into all of our plants. Even after being treated, we lost the zucchini plants, and the cucumber plants weren't looking much better. 

After a lot of hard work and money spent, I had pretty much given up on the garden. It is hard to keep up with lots of gardens with little ones, after all. I just figured I would let it be what it would be, and if we were meant to have any more fruit or veg from the garden, God would make a way for it.

We got caught up in back-to-school busyness, and I sort of forgot all about the garden. As I was pulling into our driveway last week, I noticed lots of orange and red colors peeking through the bent-over tomato plant in the garden. The girls and I made our way outside to collect whatever we could, though I told Bean not to get her hopes up... that there had been lots of bugs all over the plants, and they might all be yucky.

To our surprise, we were greeted by several ripe tomatoes, a few cucumbers, and a bell pepper, and saw that the herbs were flourishing in the heat. The marigolds were holding steady, and I had some very giddy girls, happily plucking tomatoes off the vines. They couldn't wait to get inside, wash each freshly picked piece of produce, and figure out how to use it in an upcoming meal.

As I laid out the content of our harvest on the table, I was reminded to harvest what I planted. Even though I gave my garden time and space to itself, I trusted all along that God would provide, and He did. With my husband and kids, I laid the groundwork for something beautiful to happen. Over time, and with love and care, and plenty of sunshine, our garden grew and bore fruit, which we are now tasting the sweetness of. What a reward!

Friends, don't forget to harvest what you've planted. You've worked hard. Where you've planted seeds, you've planted hope. Where you've watered, you've poured yourself out. While you've waited, you've trusted and prayed. You're not quite where you started, so why not check-in? Take a look at your garden. Has it grown? I can only imagine it has, and with love by your side, it must be rather beautiful.