by Fr. Justin Fulton
Hello, all! Peace be with you.
Today I share a picture of my niece Cecilia admiring some beautiful flowers.
I like this picture because it captures the essence of summer in the Heartland. A child enjoys her freedom before she heads off to kindergarten. She is outside and her nose is not in front of an iPad screen indoors. She is with God in nature. She admires His handiwork. And perhaps she is forming a bit of a green thumb to cooperate with God’s grace to help him grow more flowers and plants in the future. It is a pretty neat picture, and I am sure CeCe will enjoy it in the future.
There must be something about being around vegetative growth that allows our hearts to grow with God as well. Recently I heard a story about one of the clients at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska. Earlier in the summer the client received some tomato plants from CSS to bring home to plant and garden. The client took those plants and did not have a garden to grow them in because the client was homeless. Unbeknownst to the employees of CSS, the client brought them to a flowerbed on our grounds and planted the tomato plants there.
A couple of weeks later the client came into our offices and asked for some water from CSS during lunch. The client took some of the water from the tap and decided to pour it onto the tomato plants! It seems the client had been tending the flowerbed where he had planted the tomatoes throughout the summer. The plants are now growing well here in August and are near time for picking. The client wishes to donate the tomatoes back to Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska so they can be distributed to another hungry member of the community.
This story shows the beautiful circle of life and the gift of charity. The person who CSS helped was homeless and he wanted to take a gift he had received and give it back to another. In his heart he received the love of Christ. His heart expanded and he decided to secretly grow a gift so that it could multiply and be shared with the community. The love and concern shared with him was now being shared with others. He cooperated with God’s grace and timing and his summer-long project of growing tomatoes was actually growing love in his heart as well. Because of his actions more love was being brought into the world.
Gardens and growth allow us to see God’s hand in nature. And His hand grows our hearts as well if we allow Him to. What a beautiful gift! Thanks be to God for the gift of our client and his ever-growing heart.
Thank you for your support and prayers for Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska. May God bless you always!
