Somewhere Between Planting and Harvest

James 5:7-8, 10-11

“You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work.  Be patient like that.  Stay steady and strong.” James 5:7b-8a (MSG)

I grew up with farms as neighbors, in a state covered with farmland, with farmers in my family, and kids in farming families at school.  I watched fields rotate corn, soybeans, cattle, and seasons where nothing was planted.  Farmers must know their land and how to work it in order to provide for their families and for the rest of us who go to the grocery store hoping for food to put in our stomachs. 

Farmers are dependent on the weather, which requires much patience.  My dad, who lives on a farm, updates me on how things are going both at planting and harvest time.  This year it rained so much through the spring that the farmers couldn’t get the crops out until much later than usual.  Then the weather became too dry, then too wet again...  It has been a rough farming season in the Midwest. 

But, like the old prophets, the farmers keep going.  “They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit...”  They have to – their lives depend on it.  And if they don’t keep going, we don’t keep eating.

James references Job’s trials and how God brought it all together for him at the end.  So, too, it is, when I work not for myself, but for God, striving to do his will and sticking it out with him through every trial, every test, every bad day, every good day, and so on. 

Even now, as I have gotten more distracted and side-tracked, too new to this whole completely trusting in God and not worrying thing not to take on human concerns, God is pulling it together for me.  Today it was as if he said to me, “Look, you know I’m in control.  Just let go and do what I am telling you to do.  Stop trying to pull it together yourself, even if you’re only trying a little.  I’ve got this.  Just do what I tell you.” 

So I am going to try much, much harder and pray all the more on my surrendering power and my ability to let go and let God and do what he tells me, “Because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.” James 5:11b (MSG) 

He’s got this.  I’ve just got to find my inner farmer and wait for God to make this crop mature, patiently letting his rain do its slow but sure work in me.  Steady and strong.

Amen!  :D

The Real Miracle-Gro

James 1:19-25

“In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.” James 1:21b (MSG)

I love the imagery in this verse.  All the ways to describe God: Shepherd, Father, Creator, Comforter...  Gardener.  I can see God, knees in the soil, no gloves because he likes to get his hands dirty, gently tending his garden.  He carefully plants seeds, pulls weeds, waters and provides sunlight to his plants.  In the parable of the scattered seed (Mark 4:1-20), Jesus compares believers to planted seeds.  He related the strength of the believer’s dedication and faith to the type of soil in which the seed landed.  The good soil represents the Word of God, and the seeds that land in the good soil and take root will thrive. 

If I take root in God’s Word and let him mold me through what I read in the Good Book, I will have communion with God and my life will have joy.  But I have to be sure I am not merely reading and reflecting on what I read.  If I do not put what I learn into action, I’m not doing God’s will, and I will not have his joy.   

“Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and [immediately forget] who they are, what they look like.” James 1:23-24 (MSG) 

My memory is less than stellar these days.  I need to write everything down.  If I have a meeting, an appointment, lunch with a friend, or anything outside my ‘normal’ routine, I must write it down and stick it on my bathroom mirror or I will forget.  I put some things into the calendar on my phone to alert me if it happens later in the day and I haven’t been by my mirror in awhile.  I also do not retain information well unless I have studied and studied a certain subject or read a book several times. 

So it delights me to no end to find I am remembering more and more verses from the bible – even if I don’t know the book, chapter and verse numbers that go with them.  Between time spent with God’s Word, making notes of particular verses and writing these devotions, the Good Stuff is starting to stick.

I’m getting good instruction and I’m allowing God to landscape me with his Word.  I’m taking root in the good soil and taking it with me when I step away from the Good Book.  The next step is ensuring that I am acting on what I am learning. 

Amen!  :D

I remember my dad making me work in the garden, too.  :)