Family Faith and Fun Fridays: What Can Still Grow in Drought

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. -Hebrews 4:12

Are you ready for some family fun? We’d love to have you join us as we seek to fan the flames of faith and let the Word of Christ to have the run of our house!

The M & M Tree 

(Or You Reap What You Sow)

 

Nothing much is growing around here these days.


Drought has blotted out all shades of green.

The scorching sun has tattooed its brown kiss upon the grass, the trees, the hanging plants that once oozed red and lovely.

And then there’s the corn. The beans. The fields and fields of crops fading fast, dry and desperate for a drink from Heaven.

But there is one thing that bloomed hope in our yard last week….. The M & M tree.

Yes, you read that right.

We’ve been harvesting M & Ms.

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you may be experiencing an uncanny sense of de-javu.
Because this is one of my favorite family faith and fun activities.

Every spring when Daddy heads out to plant a few new trees and add some new blossoms and blooms to our meager landscaping, I invite the kids to do a little of their own planting.

 They simply need to decide what they want to grow.

 Money is out- my teenager has tried that. But over the years, I’ve informed him that we just don’t have the right kind of soil for growing cash.

However, our soil sure knows how produce some sweet vegetation…

like lollipops 

and bubble gum.

This year, Lizzy suggested that we try our hand at chocolate.

So Maggie planted a handful of delicious M & Ms.  

And while she planted we talked about these simple words-  “What a person plants, he will harvest.”  Galatians 6:7-8.


When we’d covered those seeds with dirt and poured water over the soil, I’d asked Maggie this question- What do you think we’ll grow? 


With a smile, she replied, 
Lots and lots of M & Ms. 


I looked my littlest one in the eye and said, Are you sure we won’t grow peaches?


She laughed and said, Mommy, if you want to grow peaches, we should have planted a peach seed.




So we’re going to harvest what we planted? I asked, trying to drive the Bible verse home.


Of course, my little gardener said.


Then she laughed and patted the wet soil and encouraged, 


Mom, Just watch….


And so we did. 


We watched and waited.


And watched and waited. 


Until finally one morning that tree just burst into bloom.


And as we harvested our colorful crop of bite-sized chocolate, I asked Josh what he thought I would “harvest” if I treated others with kindness. 


Mom, we’ve been over this before, he said through a mouthful of M & Ms. If you wanna get kindness back, you’ve gotta plant it first.  


He eyed me up and down and added, its the same rule for planting love or peace or all that other nice stuff. Okay? 


I nodded. Okay.


Enough said. 


Thankfully, the kids allowed me to wrap up our harvest with this verse without reminding me that it was old hat: 


“Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.”   The Message (MSG)