Sometimes Blessings Require Work

By Kathy Pollard

Nine dozen ears of corn! A friend of ours showed up at church one Sunday night with all that corn for us. It was the Honey Sweet variety and pesticide-free. Neal and I were ecstatic. We’d been eating corn on the cob almost daily since it came into season. There’s nothing better than fresh, tender, sweet corn. We have no problem making a meal out of it with just a few slices of ripe tomato on the side.

That same evening another friend showed up with two large pans of freshly picked green beans. My, we really felt rich driving home with a trunk full of homegrown produce!

“When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things” (Psalm 104:28).

My enthusiasm dimmed somewhat when we carried our bounty in the door and I saw all of the tomatoes, jalapeños, orange snacking peppers, etc. all over my kitchen island. You see, we’d been harvesting our own vegetables and they were still waiting to be processed somehow. 

I spent two whole days making hot sauce and fresh tomato sauce, shucking corn, and snapping beans for the freezer. I didn’t really feel like doing it. There were other things I’d rather be doing!

Sometimes wonderful gifts come into our lives and we’re just overwhelmed with the gratitude of it all:

• Someone to love
• A baby
• A new home
• A job promotion

We smile and think, “It’s amazing!” And it is. But it’s also work.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).

Each example I gave takes constant work in order to stay in good, healthy, happy shape. Hopefully most of that work feels like a blessing in itself. It’s delightful to care for a new home or feed a newborn. But sometimes we just won’t feel like it. There are tedious bits, after all. 

It helps to remember the fresh produce principle:  take care of it now if you want to enjoy it later. 

Those beautiful ripe tomatoes soon turn rotten. The corn must be processed before it turns starchy. And so, you do the work even when you don’t really feel like it knowing your efforts will be completely worth it.

Relationships, children, and opportunities are ripe for enjoyment NOW. It’s all too easy to neglect them or put them off, assuming you’ll have time for them later. Those blessings require daily work. Strengthen the ties. Forgive the hurts. Be present. Express all the love and appreciation. Make the time, even when you don’t feel like it.

After those two long days of snapping and shucking, it was so gratifying to see the kitchen island cleared of produce and my freezers filled with flavors that we will especially love come winter. I started humming while I wiped down my counters and carefully draped the cloth over the clean sink. I took a deep breath and stretched by achy shoulders. I smiled. When Neal got home I proudly told him of my accomplishments and he properly praised my efforts. 

Later that evening he brought in another whole basket full of tomatoes, jalapeños, and orange peppers from our garden and set them on the counter.