You know something I love about having a garden? It’s that I can share fresh fruits and vegetables with others! Sun-ripened tomatoes are delicious. Fresh strawberries are as sweet as candy. (And even better dipped in chocolate!)

And isn’t it great when a neighbor, who has a garden, shares some of their harvest with you! My neighbor across the street gives my family vine-ripened tomatoes every year. We love them!

Everyone who has a garden knows how wonderful it is to share the bounty with friends.

Marriage is like a garden. Just like a garden, it takes hard work. And after all the hard work, there is a harvest. The harvest blesses the couple. The harvest blesses children. And the harvest blesses the community.

Let’s look at how a healthy marriage, and you enjoying a harvest in your marriage, can bless a community.

Your marriage can be an example for other couples. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just healthy. Every marriage has struggles and hardships. Mine does. Yours does, too. A partnership can help other couples overcome their struggles, by being both an example and by encouraging them.

A famous proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In other words, helping each other is really important. A healthy marriage partnership is an example for adults and children in your community. A healthy partnership gives a taste of the joy and benefits of marriage. A healthy marriage provides a safe place for children to grow and play, and for other couples to seek help when needed. Live your marriage in a way so that others will be blessed.

When our needs are met, we can be more generous to help meet the needs of others. When we have a healthy marriage, and we are enjoying a harvest, we have more time and energy to give to others. Whether it is serving at the local school or helping with the community association or just being a good friend, we can be generous with the joy in our lives.

Let others join in the harvest that comes from your marriage partnership. Another famous provers says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Sharing your harvest with others will result in even bigger blessings in your partnership!

It is time for a harvest! Enjoy it! Take the blessings that come from enjoying your marriage and share them with the people around you.

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