Fair Exchange

Anyone who has ever grown tomatoes knows that you never grow "just enough" -- you either don't grow enough -- or you grow too many. Usually too many! We bought nine plants, all of which have survived the drought through the diligent application of water from the hose and the watering can.

So every day I go out and pick the ones that are on their way to ripening, thinking that if I pick them, the plant will be strained a little less than it would be if I insisted on leaving them a day or two more. They ripen fine in the house.

Every day there are more to pick than the day before, so yesterday I took a grocery bag with me and picked about a dozen, only one or two of which was close to sandwich consistency. Having something else to do, I just put the bag on the kitchen floor, just inside the door.

A short time later, Son yelled out that we had company. It was our friend Jexxica who helped out at church last fall with the Thanksgiving dinner. I was really happy to see her as she had been on my mind. She carried a bag which she gave me.

"Pears," she said. "I got them from a trucker who had to empty his truck before his next run."

I LOVE pears! They were not all dead ripe. I picked up the bag of tomatoes and handed them to her.

I'll have more to pick today. See how God's bounty works?