The Weight of Love by Cleo Lampos
The hottest summer in half a century in the Midwest. Drought conditions that conjure up visions of the Great Depression. Bans on water use in the suburbs. The months of June through August scorched the grass with unrelenting days above 90 or 100 degrees. Yet, God’s grace is bountiful.
Planting a garden takes faith that there will eventually be a harvest. On our small suburban lot, my husband plants seven raised beds and cares for a peach tree, potted vegetables, raspberries and strawberries. Bees buzz from flower to flower, pollinating as they go. Birds dive bomb to grab worms and bugs. The cooing of the mourning doves wraps comfort around us as we dead head plants. The scent of basil wafts in the breeze. Together in our basement canning kitchen, we preserve our homegrown bounty in jars or in the freezer. We chop and slice well into autumn, knowing the wintery nights will be filled with summer sunshine from a canning jar. Each Sunday, like other members of our garden conscious church, we offer choice produce to Share the Harvest. This organization picks up our garden gleanings and takes them to the eight food pantries in our area as a much needed supplement to the canned and dried goods typically available in a food pantry.
My husband works with two other men in our church’s community garden called The Veggie Patch. This is the garden’s second year. Its crops are dedicated to the local food pantries in the Chicago suburban area of Oak Lawn that are served by Share the Harvest. The men toil on the sun drenched church’s property with hoses for watering, hoes for uprooting weeds and compost for side dressing plants. Soon, under the men’s care, seeds geminate, grow and produce crops. The recipients at the pantry inhale the smells of kale and fresh rosemary. They cradle the warm, newly picked tomatoes in cupped hands. Every week. All summer long.
The men weigh every beet, carrot, potato, radish, onion, bunch of collards that our church collects. Over one thousand pounds of life-giving organic fresh fruits and vegetables have contributed to the nutrition of people facing hard times. Because the produce is locally grown, the food mileage on the vegetables measures less than ten miles, which keeps costs low and health-filled vitamins high.
My heart swells with thankfulness that bushels of veggies could be grown in the midst of a drought that dried up the lawns of our city and the crops on the Midwestern farms. That half a ton of food has become a visual of God’s grace to all of us.
Cleo Lampos lives in Oak Lawn, Illinois with her husband and two cats. They are visited by ten grandchildren. Cleo taught Special Education for 26 years in a school described as “an urban school in a suburban location.” From her experiences, she wrote a teacher’s devotional book, Teaching Diamonds in the Tough:Mining the Potential in Every Student. She and her husband are members at Calvin Christian Reformed Church where Cleo is on the Worship Team and leads in the GEMS Girls Club.
