11.6.12-A Good Harvest

"Think about all the things that must happen before there can be a good harvest of crops.  First, someone has to go and prepare the land.  This is backbreaking work that involves felling trees, pulling massive stumps out of the ground, extracting rocks and boulders from the field, and moving them aside.  But there's no harvest yet.  Next the soil has to be broken up.  The earth needs to be plowed, fertilizer churned in with the soil, and orderly rows tilled to prepare for the seed...And always, the seedling must be carefully watered, nurtured, and fed over the long growing season" (Stearns, 2010).

In our instant-gratification society, we would prefer to go directly to the harvest.

As I sit back and watch the chaos in our world, I see so many people wanting instant-gratification.  We want answers now, we want reasons why, we want clarification immediately, and we need to just know.  We want to feel good now.  People, chill out.  A good harvest, in whatever metaphor you use, requires patience, hard work, backbreaking work, and a lot of waiting.  I'm just a seedling.  I've been watered and nurtured, and now I wait over the season of growth, awaiting some fantastic harvest.  You too, are a seedling.  Whatever step along the way you find yourself in, may your being watered  be refreshing, may your being nurtured bring you comfort, and may your be fed bring you nourishment that builds you up as you patiently wait for whatever is next.  Friends, your season of harvesting is certainly not without purpose, so enjoy it.

Stearsn, R. (2010).  The hole in the gospel: The answer that changed my life and might just change the world, 2nd ed.  World Vision: Nashville, TN.