Keep on Living!

Remember that monster squash vine that I was going to pull up but didn’t?  Well, it made about 10 various sized pumpkin-like squash!  The novitiate carved them up to make Poor Clare style Jack-o-lanterns pictured here-(a few donated pumpkins were included)

The next week after a good frost I thought that now was the time.  But when I went out to the vegetable field, I saw new green leaves unfurling among the frost bitten yellow ones!  So the vine had another reprieve.  It ended up making 3 more squash:  small, medium and large.

Over the many years I have gardened, the field has taught me many lessons.  Recently, it has been reminding me of my mortality as the tasks to be done take longer to do and I find myself saying, “I’ll wait until the novitiate come out for that”.  God bless them!  They have so much energy while I…”The old grey mare, she ain’t what she used to be”.  But as I gazed at that old squash vine, I heard the message it was trying to give me:  even if you are half dead, keep on living!  You never know what great things you will yet do!

This Thanksgiving, thank God for the gift of life and the opportunities to love!