Jayme's Garden in mid May.
By Jayme Mendenhall
Spring will soon be here and now is the time that most gardeners are planning out this year’s garden! Whether as a hobby, as a supplement to the pantry, for the love of fresh vegetables or fruit, or because of the times we are living in and seeing the need to be able to provide for your own, having a garden is a great blessing to those who are able to grow their own food.
My children and I were able to share in a half acre garden plot last year and we are excited for the opportunity to do it again this year! Our garden produced abundantly! The expression “Our blessing became a burden” could easily have been applied to our abundance. What do you do when you pick over a hundred tomatoes on Monday morning and you know there will be a hundred more waiting for you every couple of days for the next two to three months? Not to mention peppers, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, melons and anything else that is a prolific producer.
I had heard of Tithing Garden groups that were organized with about ten to fifteen families. They would harvest once a week and coordinate with their church leaders to help feed needy families throughout their community. They also were able to donate to local shelters and food pantries. One group I knew of was able to donate several tons of food throughout their community in a single season!
I decided we would tithe on our harvest. We were not able to become part of a group, but we took of our harvest to our local bishop and he was able to distribute the produce to families in the community that he knew were in need. The Bible speaks of tithing on our increase and filling the storehouses with our tithes and offerings. During these hard economic times when so many are out of work or are trying their best to stay afloat, tithing on the abundance of our garden’s can be a way to serve, help and lift our fellow man. In our efforts to tithe, we were also able to take the Lord up on His challenge to prove Him if He would not “open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it”. Indeed, we were also able to take some of our abundance to the local women’s shelter. Friends and family also benefitted from our garden and we still had more than enough to put up for ourselves!
It is possible that the answer to our economic woes lie in the simple promise God has made with us. The promise is that if we would tithe on our increase, He will open the windows of heaven such that there will not be room enough for us to receive it!
This year, consider tithing on your garden and if it is possible, put together a tithing group in your area. It is a small thing that can make a big difference! You can never go wrong by producing fresh produce from your own garden.
Spring will soon be here and now is the time that most gardeners are planning out this year’s garden! Whether as a hobby, as a supplement to the pantry, for the love of fresh vegetables or fruit, or because of the times we are living in and seeing the need to be able to provide for your own, having a garden is a great blessing to those who are able to grow their own food.
My children and I were able to share in a half acre garden plot last year and we are excited for the opportunity to do it again this year! Our garden produced abundantly! The expression “Our blessing became a burden” could easily have been applied to our abundance. What do you do when you pick over a hundred tomatoes on Monday morning and you know there will be a hundred more waiting for you every couple of days for the next two to three months? Not to mention peppers, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, melons and anything else that is a prolific producer.
I had heard of Tithing Garden groups that were organized with about ten to fifteen families. They would harvest once a week and coordinate with their church leaders to help feed needy families throughout their community. They also were able to donate to local shelters and food pantries. One group I knew of was able to donate several tons of food throughout their community in a single season!
I decided we would tithe on our harvest. We were not able to become part of a group, but we took of our harvest to our local bishop and he was able to distribute the produce to families in the community that he knew were in need. The Bible speaks of tithing on our increase and filling the storehouses with our tithes and offerings. During these hard economic times when so many are out of work or are trying their best to stay afloat, tithing on the abundance of our garden’s can be a way to serve, help and lift our fellow man. In our efforts to tithe, we were also able to take the Lord up on His challenge to prove Him if He would not “open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it”. Indeed, we were also able to take some of our abundance to the local women’s shelter. Friends and family also benefitted from our garden and we still had more than enough to put up for ourselves!
It is possible that the answer to our economic woes lie in the simple promise God has made with us. The promise is that if we would tithe on our increase, He will open the windows of heaven such that there will not be room enough for us to receive it!
This year, consider tithing on your garden and if it is possible, put together a tithing group in your area. It is a small thing that can make a big difference! You can never go wrong by producing fresh produce from your own garden.
RSS Feed
