Harvesting

When my boys were little they loved to watch tractors and combines in the field. To be honest I did, too. And I still do. There is something so magnificent about watching the golden grain fill up the grain box, then out comes the spout (I'm a little teapot short and stout, here is my handle, here is my spout. Pardon the interruption.) The golden corn or beans come flooding out of the spout and begin to fill the wagons or semi truck parked and ready to transport the grain for storage. It is a beautiful sight.

This year especially in Iowa, the harvest is a true blessing, following weeks of rain and muddy fields that most tractors without tracks could not enter without getting stuck. Now it is finally dry enough for farmers to work on their harvest. Avoiding the wet spots for now, because there are many still lurking beneath the corn stalks.

"Then he 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 NIV).

Just as Jesus expressed concern over having harvest workers, the farmers may be searching for workers to help them with the harvest, too. Once the wagons are full, there is nothing to do but wait for them to be emptied again so the cycle of filling to emptying continues. Today the machines are bigger with larger capacity but there are still constraints of time unloading, waiting in lines at the elevator, filling the grain bins, transferring to road-ready trucks that meet weight limits. In spite of the delays and pressures of farmers, the blessing of a bountiful harvest remains.

Jesus was speaking to His disciples, encouraging them to be ready as the crop of new believers was ready for harvest. Jesus and His disciples needed to help the new believers understand how to respond to Christ and to give their lives to Him. We still need to know how to do this. As Christians it would be the ultimate harvest high to be able to help a new believer come to Christ.

As we observe the harvest, or spend the hours it takes to bring the blessings in, let us remember that we are the workers for Jesus' harvest of man and woman. May we always be ready to help someone new experience the forgiveness of sin that Jesus gives His children.