What’s that aroma coming from Annie’s kitchen, you ask? Could it be purple hull peas and jalapeno cornbread, fresh tomatoes, sautéed spinach with a sprinkling of parmesan, and some new potato salad, finished off with fresh strawberries with whipped cream? That, my blog friend, is the smell of a summer dinner—rare though it is at our house. If you live in the South, a tomato still warm from the sun with a little shake of salt tempts your palate and if you’re really up for a treat, you add a sprig of basil on top. Or maybe your favorite is a strawberry red to its center that drips with sweetness, or new potatoes dug fresh from the earthy loam. Whatever your pleasure, it was on our dinner table tonight in all the splendor and fullness of the season. Today is summer solstice when the Sun is closest to Earth, and so we celebrate with some of summer’s best.

Okay, pride cometh before the fall and the cornbread will probably burn, but you certainly can see God in His creation, and one of His best shows is the summer garden in all its grandeur. There’s nothing that defines a summer evening better than the vegetables picked that day from a garden you planted. Something Biblically profound has to be here within this story with seeds being planted and the cultivation in good soil, or hard work, and the same wages for the workers in the field whether you worked all day or just a few hours, but truly the end product is my focus tonight. I am thankful for the Earth and all its bounty, and the harvest of so many good foods.

The recent Bible study I’m doing called Loving Well has paused me to think again about Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages, a book that was life changing for me. I think Mr. Chapman must have inadvertently missed one and there are six. My love language is food.