Farmers and Harvest

Brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord comes again. A farmer patiently waits for his valuable crop to grow from the earth and for it to receive the autumn and spring rains. You, too, must be patient. Do not give up hope, because the Lord is coming soon. James 5:7-8 (NCV)

What comes to your mind when you hear the word harvest?

Thoughts of harvest flood my mind with fond memories of my childhood when I visited the farms of my uncles and aunts in America's dairy land, Wisconsin. Several of my uncles and aunts lived on big farms and often during each year we would travel 'home' to visit. We spent days playing with our cousins in the hay mow, riding the tractors in the fields, cleaning out pig pens, milking the cows, and drinking fresh milk. My favorite memory is eating fresh peas out of the pods while sitting in the back of my uncle's pick-up truck surrounded by a huge mound of pea vines.

What I didn't realize as a child was the amount of work my uncles and aunts, as farmers, faced each day, as well as the anticipation of the yearly harvest. There was never an idle day, month or season. In the winter there was machinery and buildings to be repaired. The spring brought purchasing seed, preparing the ground and planting the fields. Summer months were spent cultivating and maintaining the hundreds of acres of land. Twice a day all year the cows were milked. There were newborn calves and hundreds of baby pigs to care for. The livelihood of their families, cattle, and farms was dependent upon the success of the harvest in the fall. They worked hard, carefully stored and sold their harvest, and hoped for another good year.

When I pondered this verse in James, I began to understand the amount of patience, perseverance and anticipation farming requires. Bad feed, or disease and death among the cattle could be devastating. Too much rain and there are rotted seeds in the ground. Not enough rain, the crops don't produce and the animals don't have water. Remember, a farmer has no control of the weather conditions, or of the spread of unknown disease. In spite of not knowing the outcome of their labor, they continued to work hard.

As Christians we have no control over the circumstances life brings our way.Through the good and bad times, we need to continue to work hard until the Lord returns. What does harvest mean to me? Without labor, there is no harvest. Each day we have to work; be patient and persevere, have faith that God has power to help us overcome, have the wisdom to do what is right, trust Him, and never lose hope. Our harvest can be lives that exemplify Jesus and His Gospel, a life that gently touches and changes others; with hearts that patiently wait for that blessed hope of knowing, one day, we will kneel at the feet of Jesus when He returns and we can hear the words "well done".

Lord, thank you for the example of the farmer. Help us to wait on You and not lose hope as we persevere each day, believing You are coming soon.

Janet Stutzman