A recent trip to western Kansas just happened to coincide with the wheat harvest. What a treat! Through the kindness of a friend, and a farmer he knew, I got my first combine ride. To say the least, it was impressive! This was a serious piece of equipment!
Thanks to all, it was a great time and some great memories, plus, I got my first lessons in making homemade cinnamon rolls, but that’s another story. Back to the harvest . . .
Watching this harvest reminded me of some wisdom I learned a number of years ago. I’d like to pass them along to you for your pondering and probably some growing in some Laws of the Harvest. First, some images that caught my eye as harvesting was pressing to stay ahead of some coming thunderstorms.
Here’s that wisdom worth your consideration, The Laws of the Harvest . . .
The Seven Laws of the Harvest
LAW #1. WE REAP ONLY WHAT HAS BEEN SOWN.
All life comes from antecedent life; for as Louis Pasteur has adequately demonstrated, there is no such thing as spontaneous generation. What we reap, then, was planted either naturally or purposely, either by God or man, for either positive or negative results. We are benefactors of much for which we have extended no labor, but we enter into the labor of others. We are recipients also of the sowing of tares in the field; for what others do does affect us, and there is no way for us to elude it.
LAW #2. WE REAP THE SAME IN KIND AS WE SOW.
Whatever we sow, we reap; so that, if we sow the good, we will reap the good. If we sow the evil, we will reap the evil.
LAW #3. WE REAP IN A DIFFERENT SEASON THAN WHEN WE SOW.
We sow in one season; we reap in another. No harvest comes the moment the seed is planted, but it must await Godís appointed time.
LAW #4. WE REAP MORE THAN WE SOW.
No fact is more significant and sobering. When we sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. When we sow good, we bountifully receive from the hand of God who is a debtor to no man; for the harvest is always greater than the seed planted. If this were not the case, no farmer would plant anything.
LAW #5. WE REAP IN PROPORTION AS WE SOW.
If we sow sparingly, we reap sparingly; but if we sow bountifully, we reap accordingly. The more ground we sow, the greater the harvest we will have.
LAW #6. WE REAP THE FULL HARVEST OF THE GOOD ONLY IF WE PERSEVERE; THE EVIL COMES TO HARVEST ON ITS OWN.
Weeds grow by themselves, but this is not true with the vegetables in the garden. These require much care.
LAW #7. WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT LAST YEAR’S HARVEST, BUT WE CAN ABOUT THIS YEAR’S.
Last year is a fact of history that cannot be re-lived and about which we can do nothing. Our concern needs to be for what we are producing right now.
(from Emil Brunner (Translated by Thomas Wieser) Sowing and Reaping, The Parables of Jesus (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1964).