If you’ve ever grown garlic, maybe you’ve noticed the curled, flowering shoot that appears once the top leaves are fully established. Gardeners recognize it as the “scape,” and the scape needs to be snipped off to allow the plant’s energy to remain focused underground in creating a big, beautiful garlic bulb for next winter’s pizza sauce.
It turns out that garlic scapes are delicious in salads or sautéed with other vegetables. Our scapes are now chopped into bite-sized segments and are marinating in a jar of brine in the refrigerator. Pickled garlic scapes are (apparently—we’ll see!) delicious on hamburgers, in sandwiches, or anywhere else you might like to see a pickle.
Something that would have sapped life and growth from my garlic harvest has been redeemed and repurposed. A well-timed no to growth of one kind will yield growth of another kind—and a better and more plentiful crop.
Remove Anything Doubtful
Often, I’m reluntant to say no to something when it seems like a good thing. I’m prone to accept something good today rather than trusting for something better in the future—especially if there’s risk involved. We’ve all made choices that weren’t necessarily wrong, but we knew they weren’t the best.
It takes courage to act on the principal, born in the Welsh Revival, that wisdom seeks to remove anything doubtful from our lives. Back to my garlic again, it’s hard to see the connection between chopping off a curling green shoot in June and the size of a garlic bulb in August. Wisdom does its research, believes the truth, and snips.
This holds true in the life of a believer. “Little shoots” can also sap our vitality. Entertainment choices, unhealthy patterns of eating or sleeping, life habits that drain our energy or distract us from holy habits of scripture and prayer—these are the very thing Jesus was referring to in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” I think he was saying, “Be Brave! Cut Off Everything that Isn’t Helpful!”
Waiting around, delaying obedience only gives our “doubtful” behavior (Let’s just call it sin, okay?) time to grow. It could mean the difference between a little snip and a bloody amputation. I know what I’d rather experience.
Lessons from the garlic patch: Be Brave! Cut Off Everything that Isn’t Helpful
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Holding You in the Light,
Believe it or not, I’ve written elsewhere about growing garlic! (For some reason, I can’t get over the magic of it!) CLICK HERE for the garlic’s lesson on following the directions and then trusting God with the outcome.
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Living Our Days 
I’ve never tried pickling our garlic scapes but we do cut them up and use them in recipes in place of garlic this time of year!
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They are SO YUMMY!
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Back in my overflowing gardening days, I loved garlic scapes in stir fries. I did not love the process of thinning and pruning other plants, so that by the end of the season I would be trying to manage a jungle of overgrowth. If I had only allowed wisdom to guide me early on, I would not have been so overwhelmed! I always love when you share your gardening wisdom, Michele. Blessings to you today.
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You are reminding me that I should be thinning my beets! I find it hard to do, too, Bettie, because it feels like a bit of violence to go in there and just tear up something that looks good. Then I remember that the fruit that tempted Eve was also “good “…
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Truth! I know what I’d rather experience too!
This made me think of my phone and how God has been nudging me to completely shut mine off every night after dinner. I’m planning to have a land line installed again soon. Then I can be reached in an emergency and, also, be obedient to the whispers—re-creating much better routines and habits.
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That’s an extremely practical application, and certainly something we all need to do better with! We still have our landline for the same reason.
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Michele, as it happens, I am, presently, trying to remove th
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Good for you! We all have areas that need to be snipped!
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I never knew that about garlic. I’m not a gardener, but I was familiar with the idea that we often have to cut off what looks like good growth to promote better growth. There are so many things in life that aren’t wrong in themselves, but they may be wrong for us because they sap energy and time away from what’s best.
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It’s hard, isn’t it, to chop off something “good” that looks promising? You’re onto something there with your thought about making space for the “best.”
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Oh, my goodness, Michele–you are an answer to prayer just whispered this afternoon! I received an invitation to participate in a ministry at church that ordinarily I’d say YES to and look forward to serving in that capacity. But for some reason, I didn’t feel affirmation in my spirit and thought, “Maybe I need to say no. Lord, would you let me know one way or the other what YOU want me to do?” And now you share in your post, “Wisdom seeks to remove anything doubtful from our lives.” Now THAT statement seeded affirmation in my heart! I’m going to say NO.
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What an honor to know that my little post had a job to do in your sifting process! Praise God!
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ReSound! They weren’t cheap, but they work GREAT! I try to be extra-careful with them so they’ll last.
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I’ve not tried garlic in my garden yet – and now I want to. I find the messages God leaves in the garden so heartening. Life is a continual snipping – isn’t it – reseeding and harvesting. There’s so much about self-discipline in gardening – I lost all my Italian parsley last year because I got distracted and let it go to bloom. It was a plant I’d had for about 10 years. I am trying to be vigilant this year. It’s almost time to go sniping!
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To me, garlic is magical. Planted in the fall, it survives a Maine winter under a scanty covering of earth and leaves, and it’s the first thing that shows up in spring to give me green hope!
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I love using garlic in my recipes. You’ve reminded me to buy some as I haven’t eaten some for a while! : ) I like the message about cutting things off indeed.
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Garlic adds SO MUCH to a recipe!
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Our gardens (or wanna be gardens) are an endless source of aha moments and wisdom that hits home. He watches … and smiles at His creation.
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Yes, that time in the garden is a short season, but it yields more than mere veggies!
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