Tikvah - Waiting

Last Week we wrote about beginnings and hope.  This week we continue on the theme of hope and waiting.  The Hebrew for hope is Tikvah. 


                                                         Potatoes -original picture

Added 7-13-12

Tikvah does not merely mean hope.  It is more like waiting with expectation.  We had to wait for our first harvest -radishes.  Our hope was based on the green leaves and the small round radishes that we could see.  We had expectations.  Our hope was not in vain and everyone who was at the Shavuot/Pentecost picnic could have eaten radishes.


Added 7-13-12

Two weeks ago we planted potatoes.  Yes, it was late,be we have hope, not just because they are planted, but because they came up.  We hope for a full harvest based on our even reasonable expectations.

Tomatoes and partly eaten peppers
added 7-13-12

Now, in the Lord, we have hope in all that He has promised.  Many of those things are available now - like shalom/peace.  Yeshua/Jesus said,  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33- NIV).  There is also the promise and hope of the Resurrection and life everlasting (1 Corinthians 15, John 3:16). 

Now our hope as far as the garden is concerned is based on our observations and our work.  We are waiting with expectation for a full harvest.  However,  our hope in what the Lord has promised is based on our allegiance to Him and what He has said in Scripture.  Weather and even our health (in terms of working the garden) are variable, but God's word is ever true (Isaiah 40:8).

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This week parsley and herbs.   Lettuce at the oneg

Promise of the Garden, Promise of the Eternal

We have started a garden or rather a group of gardens in our Congregation.  While we are sharing the produce, we planned and have shared some of it with others.  So Gan Am Messiah or the Garden of Messiah's People is a garden of promise and hope. I will be telling you what has been picked, but I also hope to share with you all a short message tying the Lord into the Garden each week.

This week has been a week of promise.  During the elders meeting we went outside to see the work that had been done on the grounds.  Then I suggested we look at the garden.  As you know produce had been attacked and eatten by a hungry woodchuck and its family.  They had the first harvests of chard and lettuce.  They had decimated the cabbage and had pruned the tomatoes.  But I saw promise.
The cabbage was back.  There will be a harvest of perpetual spinach and chard this week.  Most impressive was not only the return of leaves to the tomatoes, but also the blossoms and a tomato.  There is the promise of a harvest.

Now, things may happen.  The weather may not be cooperative.  The woodchucks and other critters may find ways to get through the fence.  We may even be neglectful in our care of the garden.  However, God is not like that.  2 Corinthians 2:20 say   "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Messiah*.  And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God." (NIV)  So, that while our garden and lives may have set backs, the Eternal will continue to keep His promises toward us.


*NIV text is Christ, but in this blog it will appear as Messiah
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This week (6-30), there will be perpetual spinach/chard and the last of the peas for pick-up.