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“Happy Fall, ‘yall!”

 

These cute pictures of my kiddos were taken last year at a local pumpkin patch, and they appeared on my “Facebook Memories” recently.

The pictures reminded me of this verse, “Then [Jesus] said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’”  (Matthew 9:37-38)

These precious boys.  They are my harvest field.  My husband and my marriage are my harvest field.  My relationships with others— near and far, face-to-face and virtual— are my harvest field.

And it got me thinking…. am I sowing enough good seeds into these fields?  Am I nurturing those relationships, putting in the time, love, and dedication that each need?  I can only pray that God will give me the strength and compassion to selflessly pour myself into these precious blessings with which He has gifted me.

It’s not always easy.  Sometimes it’s hard work.

If you think of “harvesting” from an agricultural perspective, God told Adam and Eve after they sinned that harvesting the fields would be a “painful toil” and “by the sweat of [their] brow.” (Genesis 3: 17-19)

My husband has a “green-thumb” and has skillfully planted many gardens in our backyard, growing tomatoes, potatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers, peppers, kale, lettuce, carrots, cantaloupe, you name it!

He’ll be the first to tell you that it takes a lot of time and effort– preparing the ground, planting the seed, watering it, pulling out the weeds and plant-eating insects, watering some more, pruning, and finally, harvesting!  You get your hands dirty.  You sweat.  And sometimes, you ache afterwards.

 

Maintaining relationships can be hard too.  The constant temper tantrums of little ones.  The spouse who might not meet your needs the way you want them met.  The friend who only shows up when they need something.  The quarreling family member.  The bossy co-worker .  You get the picture…

It’s not easy building and maintaining relationships with people, especially with those who might be hard to get along with.  But God asks us to plant seeds of goodness, hope, and compassion into EVERYONE, despite the thorns we might encounter along the way.

However, if we want to plant good seeds into others, we have to tend to our OWN inner harvest field as well.  We have to plant seeds of goodness into ourselves first, being rooted in the Lord and rooted in His Word, so that our fruit can be a blessing to others.  Our fruit (produced by God) will then bear more seeds that can be planted and grown.  And the cycle continues.

“A man reaps what he sows. […]  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  (Galatians 6:7,9)

Jesus calls us to be His disciples.  But with that discipleship comes surrender, discipline, and commitment, just like a seed needs to be planted and nurtured.

I firmly believe God can use anyone and everyone to be a blessing to others, Christians and non-Christians alike.  But I also believe it’s important for Christians to prepare themselves to be used by God.  If we are to be His “salt” and “light,” don’t we want our salt to taste good and our light to shine bright?  (Matthew 5:13-15)

Are you ready to be used by God?  Are you ready to bear fruit?  We don’t have to be perfect, just willing.  And God will use us in ways that we may have never imagined possible.

 

The world needs Jesus, yet the workers are few.  Let’s plant eternal seeds today.  Let’s reap a bountiful harvest for Christ!

Planting along with you,

Amy

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