Being the "Holiday Season" and all, I've been thinking about the fall harvest. Back in the "day", people used to have harvest gathering and feasts to celebrate the abundance of crops.
Harvesting is fun! (Well, I think so, anyways.) You get to see the fruits of all your hard work. And enjoy it. And share it with others so as to bless them.
I didn't used to like to garden as a kid when I'd have to go help mom harvest the garden in the summer. Planting was even harder work. We had to prepare the soil, get rid of weeds and rocks, give the soil nutrients. Plan the planting of the seeds. Make the rows. Plant the seeds. Cover them. Water them. And then work regularly to keep the weeds out so as to not steal the nutrients from the crops. And keep watering. And weeding. And more weeding. We had a lot of weeds.
I hated weeding. It was a lot of work.
But I loved eating the fruit! Especially strawberries!
It's crazy to think that one planted seed that is nourished with sun, air and water grows a fruit--or many fruit in most cases. And that one seed that grew that one fruit has many more seeds inside to grow more fruit the next year. One apple seed grows into a tree, which can sometimes produce hundreds of apples in one year... and each apple on that one tree from that one seed has the potential to produce hundreds more apples if planted.
I think God knew what He was doing when He created plants and their survival. They can survive without man's help.
They do it all the time.
Each type of seed has it's harvest time. A tomato may come to fruition earlier than say, a pumpkin. It depends on weather and soil nutrients among other factors. But nevertheless, those seeds grow fruit at different times of the year.
If you left a pumpkin to decompose (or rot) over the fall through spring, the seeds can get planted and grow more pumpkins where the rotting pumpkin was the year before. It may seem like the rotting pumpkin was wasted, but it wasn't. It was doing what God designed it to do~ it survives. If not eaten, it reproduces through decomposition when it gets planted in the soil. When the rain waters come it grows into the plant God designed it to be~ pumpkin.
The "right" conditions may make the plant grow faster and maybe even yield better fruit. But we can't make the plant grow. We can help it along by watering it, putting it in the right setting for sun or shade, giving it food. But I can't make it grow.
The same goes for those with whom we are sharing the gospel. I can tell them about Jesus. I can live my life for Jesus and show them Jesus in that way. I can pray for them. But I can't make them accept the seed~ that is, the word of God. I can't make them choose God. But I can be involved with nourishing the seed in their heart to grow to love Him and choose Him. I can be involved in the process.
I can plant seeds. And most times it's hard work. And not often fun. You're involved in the weeding and watering process. And it seems unproductive at times because you don't see the fruit fast enough, if at all.
And when that seed is ready for growth, it has the potential to plant many more seeds which has the potential to grow more fruit for the Kingdom.
So this "holiday season", when we're out buying gifts for others, eating our meals together and enjoying each other's company, plant seeds in the hearts of those whom you meet. It may be the cashier at the department store, the clerk at the coffee shop, the server at the restaurant... it may be your friend for the last 10 years who doesn't know Jesus... or maybe even your family.
Because there are people out there who want to know Jesus, who want to belong to His family. The harvest is plentiful. And the planting still needs to be done. So while some are harvesting the fruits of other's labor for the Kingdom, we can be planting seeds as best we know how.
And God will make it grow.
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body...So it is with Christ. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ~1 Corinthians 12:12, 27 NIV
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