The Missing Ingredient

Remember me? I apologize for being MIA lately. I've simply been swept away by summer. I've written dozens of posts in my head, but they never seem to make it to the keyboard. Haven't really taken part in anything earth shattering, just the normal, day-to-day running in circles. Cooking for a crew, tending to the garden and yard work, working on home improvement projects, making quilts, getting DS ready for college, and keeping up with DD's social calendar. But, things have been piling up and it's getting kind of crowded in my little, chaotic brain so I thought I had better take the time to sit with you a spell so here you go...

I'm a throw it together kind of cook. I love recipe books, but if I don't have all the ingredients, I have been known to substitute. That works pretty well with cooking. Baking...not so much. It's imperative that you have all of the ingredients. I mean, who wants to go through life without baked goods? Not this family!

So I was really looking forward to a garden this year. I figured we would have whatever was ready to pick for dinner that day. So I built and hauled and planted and watered. I lovingly tended my fledgling project each and every day. I tossed the tomato worms off with a vengeance. I fought a valiant battle with the cutter bees. I watered as the sun rose. I watered as the sun set. I heralded each and every new growth. No, I did not weed. There may actually be something to this square foot gardening thing! And it grew. Slowly. In the desert. The only green thing for miles around. Then we were blessed with this:

That beautiful green and yellow was the answer all along and you should have seen the lightening that accompanied this storm. What a show! All the fireworks this weekend couldn't hold a candle to the one last night. The missing ingredient was a blessing from above. Seems you can water until the cows come home and just keep things hanging on, but bring on the rain and watch everything take on a life of its own! I am harvesting my first 2 heads of lettuce today! Note to self: start earlier next year. Since I'm new at this, I'm still getting a feel for how long I should wait between replanting, but I do believe that the rainy season has arrived. There simply is no substitute for the water sent directly from heaven. It's not just a figment of my imagination that things are growing overnight.

Which leads me on a rabbit trail. It's all related, but it's a rabbit trail nonetheless. We are so spoiled. We want this and think we have to have that when in reality, the only thing we really, truly need is God. I'm guilty as charged. Just have to have that cute fabric I saw in that quilting magazine or I'll just toss that cookbook that caught my eye into the basket. But, if you don't have that personal relationship with Him, then life is empty and you are missing a very vital ingredient for which there is no substitute. Without it, you may as well be baking without flour. And unlike flour, you shouldn't stash that relationship in a dark corner or your freezer. Keep it on hand at all times. Your life will be richer and more fulfilling and... His. It's my fervent prayer that everyone have an endless supply of life with Him. When he breathes life into your soul, it's like a good, soaking rain with a rainbow on the horizon: