Pumpkin Hunting

So this past weeked was our church's annual trip the Farm in Snohomish. See www.thefarm1.com for more information. We went on a hay ride, Carlos led a crew through the corn maze and got lost only on the second time through, trying to do it without a map! I did not go in the corn maze, instead I spent most of my time in the pumpkin patch, hunting for my fall porch display. What I love about pumpking hunting is that the moment I feel that I found something, another one catches my eye that I find more perfect than the first. I finally settled on 1 white pumpkin, 1 greenish-orange flecked pumpking, two squat fire-orange pumpkins, and 1 regular old orange pumpkin that I will carve later to make my jack-o-lantern. I love going to the pumpkin patch. Not for any strong familial ties, my parents never took us to one growing up, but perhaps it's because of the child-like giddiness of finding something that is mine to choose, mine to pluck, and mine to take home. I enjoy going out to the deep of the patch, to the center where people have not traveled yet, and allowing my eyes to wander from pumpkin to pumpkin wandering which one will find a home with me. Is this an analogy for the Father. Does he wonder, or does he already know which of us pumpkins will find a home in Him? I believe that touches on some deeper Calivinistic tendancies that I don't have the time to dissect currently. But I like the idea of me on a vine, ripening, certainly not the perfect shaped or colored pumpkin, perhaps I'm still green. The Father comes to me and says, Yes, you are perfect for my home, and takes me back with him. That's peaceful. That's why I love the farm.