And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13;13

I just tore out my tomato plant. It had flowers and even a few baby tomatoes on it. It was 94 degrees yesterday. This area is good for tomatoes as long as I water them.

I’d planted this tomato plant with so much faith and love. I had hope that it would give me delicious ripe red tomatoes.

I twined it around the cage to support it growing strong. I snipped back the growth so it would put its energy into the fruit.

I had faith. I loved my plant

And my hopes were not fulfilled. I saw the green tomatoes swell. Then they were stolen.

Every single.

There were forces that I had not controlled. My environment included tomato thieves. I found racoon prints in the dust around the corner. But then again, my backyard is a harbor for a lot of fauna. They are clever and thorough. The tomatoes would all be stolen the moment they turned the slightest blush of red.

I had hope though. I thought if I buried a green tomato in the middle of plant it would escape notice.

I was wrong.

The tomato burglars are skilled.

It was nice to have hope all summer. I had hope and no tomatoes.

I also was spending a lot of time looking for my next job. I had a lot of hope for that one too. So many small green possibilities came my way. A more bountiful harvest than ever before.

I was swimming in hope. So many possibilities, more than I’d ever dreamed possible.

But possibilities are not reality. I cannot put hope on a plate.

On the other hand, hope does help feed the faith. I have faith that I will find my spot. The right position will appear and it will extend an offer.

Like those green tomatoes, I was so ready to harvest one of these. So many of these jobs were perfect for me. And I was perfect for them!

But they vanished.

Undoubtedly, I could have done something to protect my tomatoes better. Many people had suggestions.

I also could have done things on the job search as well. There are no shortage of opinions on how I should change,

Well, I did change.

I ripped out the tomato plant. I had an idea about what I wanted, but I wasn’t successful with that idea. I am going to shift my hopes to a new direction. Faith keeps me going.

I spent this whole piece only talking about faith and hope. The greatest of the three is love. Love softens the blow of all the failed attempts of the first two. It hasn’t been easy.