... God gives the increase...

Picture : the last tomato and last basket of potatoes we harvested in early October

Thanks , God, for harvest.

We plant and tend, and the ground brings forth food.
Simple, yet amazing.

When I was younger, we went to Grandpa and Grandma' s for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Grandma had a big Hobart mixer, like a Kitchen-aid on steroids, in which she whipped 20 pounds of potatoes for the great gathering. What a machine, and what a feast!
Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandpa and Grandma. I don't recall a lot of details - except for what I've seen in the pictures, but that mixer on the floor stand sticks in my memory .

My late Grandma Ruth was a master gardener, she grew all kinds of flowers and vegatables for most of her 80+ years-
but never lost the wonder of harvest.

I remember her telling me about a huge pumpkin , or squash of some kind that she grew,
"It came right up out of the ground, from a little seed, right up out of the ground !"

I wasn't impressed. Being 18 or 19 at the time, I knew everything :-)

This year we planted about 5 pounds of potatoes, and harvested 40 or so pounds.
Provision such as this really is a commonplace miracle.
Expected, yes, but no less miraculous than the provision
Plimouth Plantation recieved .
For the produce of our garden-
humble tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and potatoes- came from the same Provider, the same 'Providence' that brought a nation up out of the survivors of the Mayflower.

Half of them died that first winter, half.
Imagine the press conference,

"Governor Bradford, what is your exit strategy?"
"The Mayflower is still anchored in the bay,
when are you going to bring them home?"

Governor Bradford might have answered as he wrote in his "History of Plimouth Plantation"

[We have] a great hope and inward zeal of laying some good
foundation...for the propagating and advancing the Gospel of the kingdom of
Christ in those remote parts of the world; yea, though [we] should be but
even as stepping-stones unto others for the performing of so great a work."

sidebar:
What comes first,
the calling to accomplish acts of incredible faith,
or the faith to carry out the calling?

They had a calling stronger than the hardship,
God was leading them to lay the foundation of a new nation,
one that he brought

-right up out of the ground.

Happy Thanksgiving Day
-Terry

So that neither the planter nor the waterer is of any importance.
God who gives the increase is all in all. I Corinthians 3:7 -Weymouth

On Angel's blog, track over there for more Thanksgiving thoughts!