In this, our first
gardening attempt, my husband and I planted two
summer squash plants: A yellow squash plant and a
zucchini plant. Interestingly, they didn’t start
bearing squash at the same rate. The yellow plant
began first, and we are still having trouble keeping
up with its abundant produce. We’ve had zucchini
cake, zucchini fritters, stuffed zucchini, zucchini
salad, zucchini/carrot sandwiches, zucchini pasta,
etc., all made with yellow squash instead of
zucchini. The actual zucchini plant, however, didn’t
seem to be doing anything at all. Oh, it had
flowers, and we could see the little squash
beginning to grow, but they never seemed to get
beyond the size of a short pencil. It was hard to
believe that the yellow squash produced such an
abundance of large, healthy squash, while the
zucchini plant did basically… Nothing! Both plants,
after all, were receiving exact same care, they had
the exact same amount of sunshine, the same soil,
the same water, etc.
It wasn’t until a couple
days ago that I discovered the reason…
I was out hunting for
hidden weeds under the large zucchini leaves when I
found this long, thick, green – something! It was so
big that it startled me, but as I brushed aside the
leaves and dirt, I found one ginormous zucchini! It
was as long as my countertop is wide and as thick as
my hand’s breadth. My zucchini plant wasn’t “doing
nothing” as I had thought! Rather, instead of
dividing its efforts into multiple squash, It was
putting all of its effort into this one monster!
Which plant did the right
thing?
Well, if the goal was a
huge squash, then the zucchini plant did the right
thing. But if the goal was multiple smaller squash,
then the yellow squash plant gets the medal, hands
down…
Just before leaving this
Earth, Jesus gave us an important command:
“Therefore,
go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all
the commands I have given you. And be sure of this:
I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:19-20 NLT)
I don’t know about you,
but I’ve often felt like I’m not necessarily doing
everything I possibly can to obey this command. I
mean, how many people have I brought to the Lord? I
could probably count them on my hands and have
fingers left over… I am definitely not the type of
witness who brings hundreds to the Lord.
But is this the only type
of witness that Jesus needs? I mean, when you bring
hundreds to the Lord, how are you able to follow up
with them? To disciple them? To ensure that their
faith grows and that they get connected with a body
of believers? And when I think of the few who have
come to know the Lord as a result of my witness, I
realize that I’ve done whatever I could to ensure
that these develop rock solid faith….
This makes me think of my
two squash plants, and I realize that just like
there is a place in my garden for both types of
producers, there is a place in the church for both
types of witnesses. Those who bring those hundreds
to the Lord are serving an all important role. But
that doesn’t mean that those who put their efforts
into a few select people to bring them to the Lord
are doing the wrong thing. Just as there is a place
for both types of squash plants, there is a place in
the church for both types of witnessing!
I have, naturally, picked
the gi-normous zucchini. I suspect that had I left
it on the vine, it would have continued to grow, at
the expense of the others on the plant. I hope that
the other “pencil”-sized zucchinis will now begin to
grow and develop.
In the same way, it is
possible to spend too much of our time on the same
new believer. We can play a vitally important role
in discipling them, but there will be a time when
they no longer need such an intense amount of
discipling. If we continue to disciple them when
they are okay on their own, could it be that we,
too, will be neglecting other baby Christians who
could use our help?
Are you a “zucchini” type
witness for the Lord? Or a “yellow squash” type? My
two summer squash vines have taught me that there is
an important place for both… And when the baby
Christian I’m discipling matures enough to make it
on his/her own, then I need to turn my efforts to
bringing others to the Lord as well!
Oh, and if anyone wants to
know what to do with a gigantic zucchini, it made
lovely “Zucchini” Parmesan! Four big dishes of it…
God bless,
Lyn Chaffart