Thinning Lettuce
The garden is my happy place. It is only a small plot in front of our house, but I could get lost there for hours, hands in the dirt, poking seeds into the newly tilled soil, watering, weeding, and watching God's glorious creation at work. Already, last year's swiss chard has come back to life and the lettuce we planted earlier this spring is thriving. Last night's dinner of chard/feta frittata and spring greens had my heart - and stomach - leaping with joy!
This morning, my garden task was thinning lettuce. If I were to leave all of the lettuce bunched up together, there wouldn't be enough room for each plant to grow. Thinning the lettuce is what allows the plants that remain to thrive.
You know, Jesus even talked about the need to thin lettuce... well, kind of! He talked about God as a gardener who prunes branches that bear no fruit so that ultimately they can bear more fruit. Interestingly, Jesus followed his comments about thinning/pruning with a clearly worded reminder of the commandment to love each other.
The juxtaposition of these two lessons - pruning and loving - may at first seem unexpected. However, I believe the partnership of pruning and loving actually feels deeply significant. In order to truly love our neighbor as ourself, we may need to prune back a whole host of unhelpful habits that have crowded into our lives. Habits such as rushing to judgement, demeaning those with whom we disagree, joking at someone else's expense, assuming our way is the only way or even simply over-scheduling our days. Pruning back some of these harmful habits can create critical space for love to thrive.
What harmful habits might be keeping you from loving your neighbor as yourself? Perhaps if we dare to thin out our proverbial lettuce patch we can all more fully thrive as equally beloved children of God?
"I am the true vine, and my Abba is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. So have I loved you. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15: 1-2, 11-12 (excerpts)
