Every Season Is Not Harvest Season
“Every season is not harvest season. There are seasons of sowing where no harvest is seen, and sometimes there are droughts. … There are some crops we desire for ourselves that we may never harvest.” A friend posted this in an online discussion about the blessings of God. And it got me to thinking.
Sometimes I am so impatient for God to do what I have asked Him to do. Even though I’m a pretty accomplished gardener, I forget that there is always a space of time between the planting of the seed and the reaping of the fruits.
I start my marrow seeds in egg cartons in March or April. I faithfully water them and make sure they are getting adequate light, while I wait for the temperatures outside to increase and the ground to thaw sufficiently that my little seedlings can survive. But most of that time, I seem to be tending egg cartons full of dirt. Not the smallest glimpse of green to make my attentive care seem worthwhile … sometimes for several weeks.
But by transplant time in late April or May, there will be at least a tiny sprout visible in the egg carton, and the weather outside will be such that my little seedlings can safely be transferred to the garden plot. (Of course, prior to transplant day, I have carefully prepared my garden plot by tilling it and sifting out the rocks and weeds, adding compost, and laying out the rows and plots where different crops will be placed.)
When transplanting is done, there is another long wait, this time for the plant to reach maturity and flower. And then is the trickiest wait time of all. For when the flowers bloom, you must pollinate them (if you haven’t any bees handy) and watch for the little fruits to develop. Then you have to wait for the fruits to be big enough to pick … and harvest time seems to take so long to arrive. And if there is a drought, harvest may be delayed, or prevented altogether.
And there are some fruits that I cannot reap from my garden. I can plant lychee seeds from now to the end of time, and I will never get a lychee fruit. They simply do not grow in this zone. I can spend a fortune on exotic seeds and soils, but I will never have fresh breadfruit, jak fruit, or cherimoyas in my back yard.
My garden is such a mirror of how my life’s sowing and reaping works. I start my little seed of prayer for some desire or goal, and there is usually much waiting and tending (with more prayer, maybe a bit of action, maybe some preparation …), and sometimes even a drought.
I am reminded of when I was younger and wanted, oh, so very much, to be married and start a family. I wanted a big family. At least six kids, and twelve would have been better. I planted my little seed at the age of 13, when I first asked God for a good husband, a nice home on five acres, and a Jersey cow. (You may laugh. At least I knew what I wanted.)
Over the ensuing years, I tended that seed so faithfully. Watered it with my prayers always, and with my tears on many a night. I’m not particularly attractive, so boyfriends were few and far between. I’m also not particularly bright, and I tended many a weed before realizing that it was a weed and yanking it out by the roots. Those were lonely, frustrating, and impatient years. But I kept watering and waiting for the harvest.
There came a day when I harvested – marrying a man and becoming a wife. (Too soon! Had I but known!) Very shortly, there were two more harvests, and I had my two precious sons. But then the drought hit. My carefully tended garden became a dust-bowl – divorce devastated my field like a tornado does a Kansas wheat field.
I still want those twelve kids. But the drought continues. I still want five acres and a Jersey cow. But the drought continues. So I continue to water the remnants of my garden with prayer and fertilize it with good teaching, and cultivate it with good works. God is not hindered by anything. My season of harvest will come. And the harvest will be good.
The fruit I desired for my garden is not the fruit I will harvest, but I have learned in my life that God knows the best fruits for my garden, and I do best when I sit back and let Him send the right seeds.
If you are in the season of waiting – for whatever harvest you have desired – hang in there. Keep tending that seed with the water of prayer. Prepare the ground with whatever cultivation the Lord directs. He is faithful. There will be a harvest.
It may be that your seed packet was mislabeled and you don’t get what you expected. (Like the time that all my bell pepper plants turned out to be serranos. Yikes!) But there will be a harvest.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
[God] hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. (The Holy Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11-14)