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There is nothing so unique as harvest time. Whether on the prairies, beneath the majestic mountains or nestled by the pounding oceans, the time of reaping has an excitement reserved for itself.
The fields have been ploughed and tended, and now the bins are full. The gardens have been weeded and tilled, and now rows of canned preserves testify that once again the earth has yielded its bounty. Nets have been mended, boats have been repaired, and a glut of salmon greets the eye. Harvest has come.
There is nothing so devastating as a failed crop. Energies poured into the earth are pummelled and smashed by a hailstorm. Worms, ignorant of man's desperate need for food, chew on carefully guarded plants. The rains fail, and crops shrivel. The heavens release a torrent of rain, and all the plans wrapped up in a plot of land are washed away with the precious top soil. The fish are gone, and no one knows for sure when, or if, they will return. Harvest has passed by.
But we manage. As Christians, we manage. We cut back or draw on last year's blessings, and we go on. All the time that we are lamenting over what might have been, we continue to enjoy freedom, the blessings of family and the unfailing provision of our God.
How the heart of our Father is moved with the plight of those who know failure after failure. Abuse, neglect, poverty and pain of every kind, describable and indescribable~, characterize their lives. Their harvest never materializes; their reaping yields only hurt and despair.
God's Word commands that seeds be planted. His eyes behold and His ears hear the cry of those in bondage. In a generation that proclaims a "me first" gospel, words such as sacrifice, sharing and simplicity are not always well received. The Lord Jesus has commissioned us to reach out with compassion and truth to a world that is dying for lack of the basic necessities of life.
Harvest is coming. What have we planted?
Linda Wegner is a librarian and freelance writer in Stoughton, Sask.
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