Harvest Service for all ages Sunday, August 6, 2023.  Zack is our youngest Worship Associate

When I think of vegetables, I think of growth. Vegetables, like us, grow. They start small, in the form of a seed. We put them in the ground, water them, and give them nutrients from the ground. They grow best when we give them love: weeding the garden, making sure animals don’t eat them, protecting them from pests. Neither vegetables or us will be the same thing we were a year ago. I mean, when vegetables grow to full size, we eat them, so that’s a difference. But the love matters for both of us.

Change is part of growing up, too. For instance, my taste in vegetables has changed as I have gotten older. I used to dislike tomatoes, mushrooms, and brussels sprouts, but now I like them, and I’m even learning to grow them and cook them. I learned that I like them now because at dinner I have at least one bite of everything on my plate. Trying things like that is important, because feelings change. That’s part of growing up. I still don’t like brussels sprouts, unless they are baked with a lot of parmesan cheese. My Dad says that I’ll probably like them someday. I’m not so sure. But what I know is that I have to keep trying new and old foods, and other things, because we change as we grow.

One year ago, when I started 6th grade, I was a very different person. When we go back to school, I will be in seventh grade. Trying a lot of new things. Some of them will be like broccoli, and I’ll just love them. Some will be like tomatoes, and I won’t like them at first. And some will be like brussels sprouts: they’ll take a lot of preparing to get through.