Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About GFA
Ministries
Free Resources
Social Media
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Pinterest
- Twitter
- Youtube
Archives
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Evangelical
For the Love of Pumpkins, “Do What You Are Doing!”

For the Love of Pumpkins, “Do What You Are Doing!”

Last updated on: November 7, 2018 at 10:27 pm by Karen Mains

For the Love of Pumpkins, “Do What You Are Doing!” 2018-11-07T22:27:01+00:00 Karen Mains

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For several years I’ve collected lovely coffee table books that are beautifully graphically designed with photo essays and recipes highlighting the uniqueness and wonder of . . . pumpkins!

One writer, Caroline Boisset, who grows some 75 varieties of squashes, pumpkins and gourds, says, “It is no accident that pumpkins and squashes, along with many other members of their family, the cucurbitaceae, fascinate people who have just encountered them and trigger passion in those who start to collect and cultivate them. They have everything to offer.”

Indeed, squashes, pumpkins and gourds are decorative: Nothing is more beautiful than a pile of orange pumpkins on a fall day with the fields going golden, the blue sky and the maple trees beginning to redden. What a whammy for the eyes when the orange pumpkins, lit by the sun, are juxtaposed against bunches of mums or fall zinnias!

But cucurbitaceae are also a cook’s delight. Immensely versatile, their taste is conducive to the making of soups and savories, vegetable dishes and salads, sweet breads and dumplings, pies and desserts, and preserves such as jams and pickles.

“Leisure is not so much having the time to do what we please, but the time to give to each activity what it deserves.”

My pile of pumpkin books is marked with sticky tabs. One marks the pumpkin quiche recipe, another the Mexican-style pumpkin and bean stew. I’ve tried the stuffed pumpkin and received the raves of family and guests. Pumpkin chutney tempts me as does the page that holds a luscious photo of a soufflé-like pumpkin pudding.

One caution, however: Every time I’ve gone to buy pumpkins after Halloween, it seems as though they’ve all been recycled to the pig troughs. My coffee-table books tell me that the best pumpkins are the greener ones—even the blue-gray fleshed ones—but the farm stands are now closed; Jewel Foods has taken to importing clementines; and the pumpkins I hunt are no longer to be bought. Alas for using that curried butternut squash recipe this year!

One year, before flying overseas for meetings in Spain, certainly before Halloween was over, I bought two boxes full of various types and sizes of squash and pumpkins. (I had already culled the neighborhood farmers’ market where I picked up as many dried gourds as I could afford and stained them various fall tints so that I could display them year after year.)

Now there would still be enough to make those enticing recipes, enough to celebrate the beauty of my own small harvest. Rynn Williams expresses my thoughts exactly, “Dense, richly hued, as sensuous as sculpture, pumpkins never fail to summon images of a crisp and dazzling autumn.”

“Are you completely, absolutely doing what you are doing? Are you entering deeply into the hidden splendor of what most of us neglect, forget or overlook? Attend. Attend.”

Rising each morning of that week before my overseas departure to Spain, I stewed pumpkins, baked them whole to more easily scoop out the golden flesh and the seeds, which I sorted and dried. I made purees, soups (gallons for freezing) and breads. I got out jelly jars and boned up on my lost knowledge of canning.

The day before flying out of O’Hare airport, I had one more cooked pumpkin to peel, one that was going soft and needed to be baked right away, and three two-pound pie pumpkins waiting to be turned into jam and into that tempting puffed pudding.

The lovely thing about pumpkins and squash is that (apart from the one going soft due to a too-long venture as decoration on my front porch) most of them will keep for weeks. I could take care of them if I had to and could recapture my cucurbitaceae culinary enthusiasm sometime in January. Maybe that would be the occasion for cooking up pumpkin chutney.

At any rate, these early mornings were a kind of a meditative lauds, the hour the faithful in liturgical churches observe as part of the rotation of the office of prayers. This is the time when the night is turning soft and daylight is beginning to rise on the earth. Certainly, I have developed a passion for pumpkins and am planning to plant seeds this coming spring—just to see if I can grow my own. After all, Caroline Boisset is the cultivator of 75 varieties vining in her garden.

Perhaps more interestingly, I am intrigued by the marrying of contemplation and activity, at my own joy in creation’s gift of this bounty, of their returning from the soil and from seed year after year after year. The monk, David Stendl-Rast, in his short masterpiece on contemplation, says, “Leisure is not so much having the time to do what we please, but the time to give to each activity what it deserves.” Do some cucurbitaceae deserve my study, my attention and my joy at turning them into human nourishment?

Stendl-Rast also points to an ancient motto, “Age quod agis” (“Do what you’re doing”).

In reality, the planting of, the tending to, the gathering of, the preparing of pumpkins can become contemplative activity when it is married to the worship that comes from praise (and love of) growing things.

“Spiritual life begins to decay when we fail to sense what is eternal in time.” – Abraham Heschel

My early morning activity before a week-long trip to Spain, this amazement at the God who thinks of such things as wild varieties of species, is as good a way to gather my soul into the recognition of the need for morning prayer, for day-is-coming lauds, as anything else I can conjecture.

It is putting together intention and action, then recognizing a diving dance between the thinking of and the doing.

“Are you giving to each activity of your days the time that it deserves?
For the love of pumpkins, ‘Do what you are doing.’“

It is raising our hearts to Him (in a steaming kitchen, filled with tantalizing odors, with pots piling and baking utensils sticky, the dishwasher humming, morning coming, the oven hot, a cup of coffee for sipping, spills and seeds on the rag rug).

Oh, what glory!

So, are you completely, absolutely doing what you are doing? Are you entering deeply into the hidden splendor of what most of us neglect, forget or overlook? Attend. Attend.

Remember this: The rabbi Abraham Heschel said, “Spiritual life begins to decay when we fail to sense what is eternal in time.” How will you see the grandeur of eternity in the days ahead? Perhaps it is a pumpkin beside your front door. Perhaps it is the morning light coming. Are you giving to each activity of your days the time that it deserves? For the love of pumpkins, “Do what you are doing.”

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Karen Mains @ Gospel for Asia.

Previous Post

November 2, 2018

Gospel for Asia: Scandal of 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking (Part 1)

Next Post

November 4, 2018 Gospel for Asia: Scandal of 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking (Part 2)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Gospel for Asia Bishop Daniel Children's Education Clean Water Daniel Yohannan Disaster Relief GFA World Guest Writer Humanitarian Services Inspiration Leprosy Medical Ministry Mission Support Team Modern Slavery National Missions Poverty Alleviation Powerful Prayer School of Discipleship Special Report Spiritual Growth Uncategorized Women's Issues

Select a Month April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 September 2025 June 2025 May 2025 March 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter David Moses Joseph