The farmers in our community are fast approaching the end of harvest season. The combines and semis have been running through the fields and down the roads, bringing the harvest into the storehouse. The data is being compiled giving a clear report of the growing season’s success. The harvest report is a tangible way for the farmer to celebrate the many hours of preparing the field, tending the crops, and praying for rain at the right times.
Farmers live their lives with great faith and trust in the Lord. The farmer takes the responsibility to plant the seed and tend the plant, trusting the Lord will provide the rain and bring forth the fruit to be harvested. The unknown tangibles in farming require the farmer to realize the limitations in their ability to make the plants produce fruit. The farmer, though, is responsible to realize when the fruit is ready to be harvested.
In John 4:35-36 we read, “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” The fields are ripe for harvest in our world today. There are spiritual seeds planted in the lives of people that are bearing fruit. We are called to participate in the harvesting of this new fruit. We are called to celebrate with the ones who sowed the seed and the one who brought in the harvest. We are called to harvest where we have not planted and to continue to plant where we may not bring in the harvest.
Do you recognize the harvest around you? Are you seeking to participate in the harvest of a crop for eternal life?
Prayer: Open my eyes Lord to the harvest of a crop for eternal life. I may not have sown the seeds, but you are giving me the opportunity to participate in the harvest. Thank you for trusting me to be part of the harvest. In Jesus’ name. Amen.