HAIL

My tomatoes WERE beautiful.  I was almost prideful as people would comment on them.  They WERE huge and loaded with tomatoes and blossoms.  THEN the hail came THREE times.  One time it was the size of ping pong balls and actually broke the skylights in the boys bathroom AND girls bathroom upstairs.  My tomatoes were sad.  There were leaves, stems, tomatoes, and blossoms laying all over the ground.  All that was left were little straggly plants.

Well, tonight as I worked in the garden I noticed a lot of new growth.  I noticed how big the tomatoes that were left are getting, and how loaded the plants really are with tomatoes.  They are going to make it!  They will still produce fruit.

I started thinking about life.  (I'm always comparing life to gardening and growing things.)  I think that hail falls in our lives and we really can't stop it.  Sometimes its big and hurts us.  Sometimes we are damaged by it and need repair.  Sometimes it is just little hail but it disrupts our happy life that we have going on.  You really can't stop hail and have no forewarning when it is going to come.  Just as life throws us loops that we don't see coming, and then when we do see it coming we really can't stop it from happening.

BUT what I saw tonight made me smile.  The sun kept shining on those tomato plants.  I kept watering and fertilizing them.  AND they are coming out of it.  There is a lot of new growth.  I think with us too if we keep the light shining in our lives and doing the things that we need to do.  We too can make it out of the trials WITH new growth.  Usually after deep pruning, plants are bigger and healthier.  We too learn from the trials in our lives.  We grow stronger,gaining more experience and understanding in our lives.

When I was surveying the damage after the big storm Kaylee told me, "Mom just think it could've been the size of bowling balls, at least it was just the size of ping pong balls."  She always helps me keep a good perspective!