Iudicare vivos et mortuos; the living and the dead

Successful gardens grow, and thank the Lord that ours has been successful indeed. I've gotten to taste a few of the cucumbers I started in May, and honestly, they are the most delicious cucumbers on the face of the earth. Also, Mama's beans, tomatoes, and peppers have really taken off and nearly overgrown the raised bed. We used some of her basil the other day to make pesto for our pizza, and that too, was the tastiest pesto I have ever had. Mama also made some raspberry cheesecake from raspberries that grown in our patch. The patch however, has become severely overgrown.
A raspberry patch such as this needs to be clear cut every three years to ensure new growth and cut out overgrowth. The last time I clear cut ours was before I went to Iowa for college, so it needs a good clear cutting this fall, I have already begun to cut away weeds, overgrowth, and old growth just to reach the ripe berries which the patch contains. Once again, the berries were quite delicious and all the cheesecake was eaten in the same day (no small feat for a household of three). There is just an inexpressible joy that comes from eating food that one has grown oneself, on ones own land. This is the same land which my ancestors grew their own food on 300 years ago. Through the miracle that is decomposition, the Lord has continued to bless us with good produce all these years in our pathetic New England soil. The death of each plant in the gardens is not in vain, for without it, there could be no new growth, no new life.
Speaking of decomposition, my mother and I went back to the cemetery today to document more graves. This place just down the road is where most of my ancestors who lived in our house and worked our soil are laid to rest. We document graves to honor them and their work, to remember them. Their hard work and faith are not to be forgotten, for all that are buried there, not just our family. There they lie, their heads to the west so that when they sit up they can see the coming of Christ from Jerusalem in the east. No, I'm not superstitious, I don't actually believe Christ will rise in the east (though there's no reason he can't) but it's a rather awesome mental image. For I do believe in the resurrection, that the believers will rise.
The title comes from the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, which both state (with slight variation):

Et ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteram Patris omnipotentis,

inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos.

he ascended into heaven,he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.