CLAIMING THE
CAULIFLOWER
This was also produced in Sheffield. This was grown in my
back garden. Do you like cauliflower? It was the first cauliflower I have ever
grown. I was so pleased that I took this photo of it and put it on Facebook. I
had more comments on it than anything else. According to my friends on social
media they are really hard to grow. Who knew? Perhaps I have green fingers
after all. I began to take pride in my horticultural abilities. I am a master
cauliflower grower!
But I’m honest it probably had more to do with the right
sort of weather, good soil and that miracle of seed becoming a plant becoming
produce. That’s the danger of pride. We start to claim achievements that are not
completely our own. I think I’ve cooked a great meal but some of the
ingredients have been produced by fantastic farmers and factory workers I’ve
never even met let alone said thank you to. We can pride in all sorts of
harvests….the harvest of a great piece of work, the harvest of a loving family,
the harvest of something we’ve got off the ground, the harvest of a win at
sport. Very, very rarely is it all down to us. When the Christian faith was
still very new some Christians started boasting about who had achieved the most,
who had grown the Christian community the most, one writer Paul put it like
this…
‘I planted the seed, Apollos watered it but God kept it growing’ (1 Corinthians
3:6).
Paul could have said “it’s all down to me- I am the master-Church
grower!’- He didn’t
Harvest is a time of thankfulness when we remember that what we
possess in life is not necessarily there because of our own ingenuity or
hard-work. Some of the most basic things such food, shelter and social
provision are there because of other people- farmers, fishermen, metal-workers….the
list is huge and ultimately a God who ‘keeps
it growing’. I did my bit with my cauliflower but I believe that God has somehow
created a world that also produces food for all its creatures. None of us
harvest alone. It is about giving thanks where its due and not claiming all the
praise ourselves. So where might you be guilty of claiming harvests that
are not completely your own? Where do you forget that other people, maybe
unseen people, have also played a part in that good thing?
Praise God for the harvests in our lives.
