By Eric Blauer
“The superfluities of the rich are the necessities of the poor.” -St. Augustine
She was skittish like a little bird. My wife noticed her hanging out on the bench in front of our church building and struck up a conversation with her. Both of them came back to our church garden where I was watering, as well as trying to spray a few of the little refugee kids who were hanging out with me.
LeeElla began to show her the garden and the woman said, “Oh I’ve been here already, I came here last night and ate some kale and cauliflower.”
She said it in passing but I was struck by the reality that the produce from our garden had literally fed the homeless and we had no clue.
Someone was so hungry, they came in at night to eat. That’s a reality we wouldn’t of been aware of without befriending a stranger and her sharing her story.
I was moved by the deep need in our communities that we often are unaware of day to day.
Moments like these reveal how the work of growing food matters in struggling neighborhoods. We might not ever know in this life, how far our labor of love extends but God does.
“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
at a place near your altar.”
-Psalm 84:3
Sometimes I wonder if projects like our garden really matter but that day, I knew it mattered for her.
There are little sparrows like this lady in all our communities. We might not see them all the time but God does and that’s why all our work matters, even a small garden, tucked away in an insignificant corner of town
