Harvest Days

These are the days for the harvest.  The big Harvest Moon has already run its course brightening up the hours belonging to darkness.  Farmers in these parts are working around the clock to bring the hay, cotton, and peanuts out of the field and to the market.  Most of the hay has already been cut and baled.  Peanuts are being dug.  The combine is in the cotton fields.  Even here on this part of the planet where a small farm is a part of my life, it is the time for gathering the pecan crop which has been anticipated since the cold winter day almost a year ago when fertilizer was broadcast on the ground.  

Whatever the crop, it takes time.  There is no hurrying it.  Most harvested things begin their journey to harvest as a seed.  In the case of pecans, a dormant barren tree of winter comes alive as hints of Spring start stirring it to life.  Watching these farmers toil long hard and dusty hours in these days is a sure reminder that the harvest may be produced, but the farmer's work is an important ingredient in the creative process as well.  What is often overlooked by all of us is that no fall harvest comes from the earth aside from the partnership of the farmer and the Creator.   

Everything we grow is dependent on the Creator.  He provides the light of the sunshine, the rain which is like drinking water, a soil that has the power of life within it, and different weather that provides for the seasons between beginning and end.  "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof..." said the Psalmist. (Psalm 24:3)  It is true.  There is a holy blend of elements involved in any harvest and about all we can do after adding sweat and energy to the mix is to give thanks to the God of Creation who has given us the blessing and privilege of sharing in the produce of the earth.