I have a knack for making anything into a fun adventure; even working in my grandparents’ huge garden when I was a kid.

“It’s time to go a pickin’,” my mamaw said when it was time to go to the garden. Green beans were my favorite things to “a pick.” As I dug through the vines, I pretended I was searching for buried pirate treasure and the cows in the fields behind us were keeping watch.

“Jackpot!” I yelled when I pulled up a vine loaded with plump green beans. Then I plucked my new found treasure with delight. My family looked at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t care. I was having fun.

I had spiritual adventures there as well. Let me tell you, when you are hot and sweaty from “a pickin,” it was so exciting to hear a distant whoosh. You see, my Papaw’s farm was in a valley, surrounded by tall ridge lines. So that noise meant a cool, refreshing breeze was rushing down the valley towards us.

The whooshing grew louder and louder as it neared. The trees and tall grass swayed and danced in the passing wind. Sometimes we heard the clanging of metal hitting metal as the wind blew through distant barns and sheds.

Right before the wind reached us, I stood and turned my face toward it. As the cool breeze blew over my hot, wet cheeks, I felt a tingling sensation that gave me goose pumps. I closed my eyes and imagined that was God lovingly caressing my cheeks while giving me the cooling comfort I needed.

It was exhilarating and humbling at the same time.

After it was over, I went back to my “a pickin.” But I always made sure my back wasn’t facing the road when I had to bend over. Some of my relatives didn’t do that.

Our neighbor took a big piece of plywood and cut it in an upside U shape. In the bell of the U, he painted it maroon with daises and lace at the bottom edge. That way it looked like the hem of a dress. Then he painted the backside of two legs and with black boots at the bottom of each one.
With a broad smile, he presented it to my grandmother and told her to put it in the garden so people would look at it instead of her. If that had been me, I wouldn’t have appreciate that too much, but Mamaw absolutely loved it.

“Well, I swannie! Ain’t that something?” She immediately stood it up in the garden.

I had fun watching cars going by and seeing who tooted at Mamaw’s cardboard image. Amazingly, some people waved at it too. I often wondered how many of them thought, “I wonder why she doesn't wave back anymore?”

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20 New King James Version (NKJV)