Harvest Time

(A view from our kitchen window!)

 
A couple of weeks ago my neighbours, who belong to a local church, were preparing for their traditional harvest festival service. They had got various items of produce, tinned food, fresh vegetables and even the customary sheaves of corn. As usual, they were given a loaf of bread in the shape of a wheatsheaf to grace the centre of the display. There was also space for people to bring their gifts, to complete the arrangement at the front of the church.
 
Of course, in the service they sang the harvest hymn that I’m sure we all remember from our younger years, maybe even from school days, “We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land”. When remembering that harvest hymn we tend to forget the next line which says, “But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand”.  Yes, we can sow the seed, but the hand of the Creator brings in the miracle of growth, the miracle of new life. (Please see Genesis 1:11-13)
 
We are commanded in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples, not meaning we have to be gifted speakers or evangelists, but to go and be good seed sowers of God’s Word. When we speak the name of Jesus or bring the  Good News to someone, maybe even in a simple conversation, we sow the seed. But the transforming change in someone’s life, as they accept Christ into their hearts and lives, is the work of the Creator God. You see, He feeds and waters that seed you have sown.
 
Maybe, and it may often be the case, we don’t see the harvest from that seed we have planted, but joining hand in hand with God the work will be completed and the harvest safely  brought it.
 
So never give up on seed sowing and God will bless you beyond words.