The Fruits Of Our Labors

Well, as promised, I am back for a couple of days before we take the end of the week off for a little R&R!  Last week we got to enjoy a couple “Fruits Of Our Labors!”  The first was our youngest son Jeremy, and the other was a tomato and two zucchini’s.  Now you might just be thinking, “What do those two unassociated items have in common?”  Well… plenty!

In May of this year I got the idea to plant a couple of zucchini plants in pots on our patio.  After a few weeks it was quite evident that I was going to have to transplant them into larger pots if I wanted them to grow and flourish.  A little while after this, both plants started to flower and little zucchini’s began to appear.  The problem though, was that they seemed to grow about two inches and then turn yellow and fall off.  A friend suggested that maybe they weren’t getting enough water, which I quickly rejected because I was already watering them every other day.  After a few more days of this, I humbled myself, took her suggestion (thanks Nanette!) and began watering daily, whether I thought they needed it or not and presto… this week I picked two large squash and the plants are loaded with many more healthy, green, getting-larger-by-the-day zucchinis!

I have to admit though, as I enjoyed a fork full of the delicious, sautéed vegetables last night, that there were plenty of thoughts of failure throughout their growing times.  But we didn’t give up, instead we increased the watering schedule, fertilized them regularly, trimmed off any dead growth, turned the soil and added amendments as necessary.  And now we are enjoying the fruit of our consistent labors.

The same thing could be said for our son Jeremy.  Sure he went through some difficult times in his adolescent years and especially so in his late teens and early twenties.  But, we never gave up on him.  We continued to love and nurture him.  Sometimes it was with very relaxed input (which I received some family flack for), but we always loved him and accepted him and his friends.  We never closed our door to the various groups of young men and women who came over to the house to see him, always sought to stay accessible to him and always attempted to demonstrate respect of him and his decisions.  And of course, all of that was saturated with countless times of prayer in the middle of the night for him.

Now we see a young man that is ablaze with a passion for the things of God.  He and I spent endless hours sharing visions, talking about the Word, talking about the call of God on his life, his future plans and even about his lovely girlfriend (not to embarrass you Aubrey!). He even made it a point to minister to me and my wife after all that we have been through over the last year.  He not only is a fine, outstanding, confident, God respecting man, but most importantly, he is my son! 

Before Jeremy left for a week vacation on the upper Sonoma County coast with extended family yesterday, he shared Proverbs 17:6 with me saying, “Grandchildren are the crown of their grandparents, and parents are the crown of their children.”  (God’s Word ©)  As I read that in my Bible through emotional eyes this morning, I glanced up at a comment from Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on my e-Sword Bible Study Program that said, “It is an honor to children to have wise and godly parents continue to them, even after they are grown up and settled in the world.”

That got me to thinking that it is never too late for parents to make a positive and lasting impact on the lives of their children.  I’m sure that we have all made mistakes in the raising of our kids, I know that I did!  But the Lord has repeatedly told me that I always have today and from now on to do things right for them.  The same goes for every parent that reads this blog post.  It may be time to let go of the past and to start afresh today!  It is never to late to enjoy the “Fruits Of Our Labors!”  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What Good Things are you expecting TO DO for your kids today!