Dear Church Family and Friends,
Recently, our family of three made its first trip to a pumpkin patch. I went with few expectations. In previous years, one of my sisters had sent wonderful pictures of her daughter at a pumpkin patch, so my main hope was that I would get a good picture of Danalyn next to a giant pumpkin. What I did not realize is that an excursion to a pumpkin patch these days is more like a trip to the county fair, except with lots of pumpkins. We arrived before the pumpkin patch opened, and there was already a line. Inside we found pony rides, a bale pyramid, a bale maze and a corn maze, a calf roping station, a petting zoo, face painting, miniature tractors for kids, a corn bin/rompus room, pumpkin sling shots, and a hayride to the actual pumpkin patch.
We saved the pumpkin patch until last. It was a hot, dusty day, and the pumpkin patch would have looked like a veritable wasteland of parched dirt had it not been for the pumpkins. The bright orange scattered across the field charmed the senses. Pumpkins had never seemed so beautiful to me. In these round bursts of color, I think I felt a subconscious excitement about the life and vibrancy they represented. For our allotment of two pumpkins that came with the price of admission, we decided to get one that was elongated and another that “had texture.” I still can’t decide if the one that has texture looks like it has pimples or measles. Either I identify with oppressed teenagers everywhere or I have a soft spot in my heart for the sick and miserable.
If there is a metaphor to be found in this experience, perhaps it is that whenever we feel that we are lost in a spiritual wasteland we should always look for the pumpkins. The pumpkins may not necessarily be giant, and they may not even be attractive by the standards of the world, but they are still eruptions of an almost magical brilliance that remind us of something greater. We might call this something “the source of life,” the divine, or the sacred. We might call it God at work in the world. Whatever we call it, may it be cause for thanksgiving in each of our lives.
Your brother in Christ,
Pastor Brooks