Daily Affirmations - Day 1- Storehouses of Bounty: Hidden and Overflowing Blessings

This week's Theme: Storehouses of Bounty

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Day 1: Hidden and Overflowing Blessings

I had been watching the nightly weather forecast, hoping to "outrun" the frost as I waited to gather in the last few remains of my summer vegetable harvest. A lone squash on the vine, two baby eggplants, and a few spinach leaves still soaked up the waning rays of the last mild fall days.

But the nights were getting colder, and once or twice, killing frost had already threatened areas not too far away. I had started using a "tarp blanket" at night and removing it during the day, so that my late-bloomers would have a little more time to fully mature.

As I removed the tarp one morning, I decided it was time to clear the bean vines from the garden boxes. I pulled the vines from the makeshift trellis and from the sides of the boxes where they had fallen, checking for any stragglers that still remained. It was a casual check— more from the perspective of not wanting any to go to waste, for in truth, I had had more than my fair share of beans from mid to late summer.

It had been my first time planting them and I had tried two varieties— green pole beans in one garden box and yellow bush beans in another. Both overperformed.

For weeks, I harvested beans, usually just enough for a single meal— sometimes two— in a week. Until one day I realized with a start that the makeshift trellis had slipped, unnoticed, and the bean vines had escaped through the slats in my neighbor's fence! I couldn't believe my eyes as I pulled vine after bean-laden vine through the slats back to my side of the fence.

I quickly filled a container and took it to my neighbor, with my apologies, and an invitation to pick any beans that "ran away" to their side of the fence! After that, I continued to harvest beans for several more weeks until the harvest trickled to just a few here and there hidden on the underside of the bushes.

So it was the underside I now checked, not wanting to leave any beans to be killed by cold and frost. But as I tugged at the bushes and pulled them from the top of the fence and the side of the boxes, it wasn't beans I discovered, but... tomatoes! Not many, just four or five little gems, green and glistening in the morning sunlight.

I had planted the tomatoes rather late, and since I had seen no sign of maturity, I had resigned myself to a "better luck next year" mindset. But now I literally laughed out loud with surprise and delight as I plucked the few tiny little globes and took them inside. Unlike the bountiful beans I had enjoyed all summer, they would hardly make a significant addition to a meal. And yet, they were a feast for my eyes and soul.

The contrast puts me in mind of the different ways God blesses our lives. Sometimes He opens the storehouses of His bounty— as He described in His promise to His ancient people— to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands (Deuteronomy 28:12). And the overflow of our abundance makes its way past fences and boundaries, into neighboring spaces, and into the lives of others.

At other times we seemingly "stumble on" His favors when we least expect a particular blessing. And He causes us to delight in the richest of fare (Isaiah 55:2). Either way, and countless others besides, we are filled with the good things of [His] house (Psalm 65:4) — with hidden and overflowing blessings in the garden of His grace.

Now, our God, we give You thanks, and praise Your glorious name (1 Chronicles 29:13).