Earlier this week, we experienced a couple of rather cool mornings for this time of year, especially when you consider the mild winter we had.

I found myself in my garden early one morning removing the old sheets that my wife had placed over our tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumber plants for protection the previous night. I have made it a habit to plant a vegetable garden for a number of years now. It’s funny. When I was growing up, I had to help in my dad’s garden. There was a time when I would have sworn that I would never grow my own. After all, you always can buy tomatoes at the grocery store.

But here I am, planting, fertilizing, watering and weeding my very own garden every year. Is it really worth it?

I simply must quote a song I once heard on the Ludlow Porch radio show in Atlanta: “There’s only two things that money can’t buy, and that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” Yes, I’m aware that it sounds a bit silly. But there really is a difference in taste. Once you have plucked and eaten a tomato from your own garden, you become aware that everything else is fake. Nothing else can substitute for the real thing.

It is the same way in life. We use a variety of things and methods to bring hope and fulfillment to our lives. It may be our jobs. It may be a hobby. For many, it is money. But there only is one thing that can truly give us joy in life, and that is a relationship with the one, true, living God. It has been well said that there is a God-shaped hole in every person’s life and that we can only experience the best in life when God fills that hole.

I don’t know what it is that you are trying to make life worthwhile and livable, but I would like to invite you to turn to the Lord. He alone can give you what you need the most — and he waits to do that for you.

Jesus has done all that needs to be done to help you experience life to the fullest. As you trust and follow him, you will discover what makes life worthwhile.

It is my prayer that you turn to him and enjoy what Jesus himself called “abundant life.” You will never regret it.