The seeds disappeared into the ground in nice neat rows and grew there in the dark, all through the Fourth of July.

“This is what the story means:
The seed is God’s teaching.” Luke 8:11

Early one morning, a tiny green shoot quietly poked its way out of the soil. Soon, a long, green vine stretched across the ground. From that vine, little buds sprouted into wide green leaves.

The leaves spread out flat to catch the August sun.

Someday, those little green buds would turn into big orange pumpkins!

But not yet. The patient farmer waited. And waited.

“God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost.
He wants everyone to change his heart and life.”
2 Peter 3:9

The pumpkins began to grow. How different they looked!

Some were tall and lean.

Some were short and round.

Some had lumps and bumps.

ALL of them were pumpkins!

“‘My hand made all things. All things are here because I made them,’ says the Lord.”
Isaiah 66:2

October came at last. The sky was bright blue and the air was cooler. Every night it got dark earlier than it did the night before. It was time for the farmer to harvest his pumpkin crop.

The farmer’s many workers brought lots of ripe pumpkins in from the fields. Which one would he choose first?

“Open your eyes. Look at the fields that are ready for harvesting now.” John 4:35

The farmer picked up one large pumpkin, being v-e-r-y careful not to let it slip through his hands. Pumpkins are tough on the outside, but break into smithereens if you drop them! He washed off all the dirt, holding on tight.

“Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away.” Acts 22:16

Next came the messy part.

Pumpkins are full of dozens of seeds and lots of slimy pulp. The farmer had a special plan for his chosen pumpkin, so the seeds and the slime had to go.

“Create in me a pure heart, God.”
Psalm 51:10

He slowly slid a large knife right into the center of the pumpkin.

The pumpkin didn’t make a sound, because vegetables don’t talk. If they did talk, the pumpkin might have said, “Ouch!”

“God’s word is alive and working. It is sharper than a sword sharpened on both sides. It cuts all the way into us...
And God’s word judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts.”
Hebrews 4:12

Gently, the farmer cut a round hole in the top of the pumpkin and pulled on the stem.

Squishy, stringy pulp waited for him inside... YUCK!

“I am the Lord, and I can look into a person’s heart.” Jeremiah 17:10

The farmer pulled out all that slimy pulp, and wrapped it up in an old newspaper. Off to the compost pile it went, never to be seen again.

“He has taken our sins away from us as far as the east is from west.”
Psalm 103:12