The Art of the Harvest

It takes 10’s of 1000’s of years for a single ray of light to reach us from a distant star.  Imagine the things that would or have occurred during those lifetimes.  Think of all hose worlds that seem so distant and alien to us being just as real & vibrant as our own - babies being born, families celebrating life and the death of a loved one.

We tend to look down when faced with such challenges.  We forget that there are so many who love & support us if we could only look up, up to the clouds in the sky, to the heavens above.

There are usually two kinds of people.  One who looks at these signs and sees miracles and the other, who sees them as just signs.  The question you should be asking yourself is ‘Which am I?’.

Looking down upon a field from the sky, we are witnesses to a unique form of art.  An art carved out of the very soil we cultivate.  They seem to be intricate designs and shapes of objects known only to the beings that created them.

Are they a map of some sort, a guide to a destination?  Are they a way of communicating their intentions to us?  Or could they simply be a sign from God?  Could He be speaking to us through these pictures about how we are to proceed as a people?  Could we also be speaking to Him, trying to convey a message of love and the hope about our dreams and to the beauty of the sky?

We plant the seed, watch it grow, tend to it lovingly and guide it on its way.  In the space of a season, it matures and becomes what it was meant to be.  We help transform it into a life all its own, like painting a picture, using all the colors of the rainbow to create a masterpiece of healing, nature and bounty.

Then, something truly amazing happens.  One night we go to sleep and wake up the next morning, walking out as we always do to tend to our land – but this day will be special, so special that it brings us to the very core of our faith.  We come across a section of field and suddenly stop.  We look out onto the field and see that some parts of it have been seemingly carved into a design, crops folded down onto themselves, disturbed but still growing.  Are we to believe that this is naturally occurring or made by some strange hand?

I leave that one up to you.  What do you think has happened?  And why can you only see them from the sky?  Do you believe, do you have faith?  Are you one to speculate on its whereabouts or are you one that sees it as just life taking place and transporting us to a place all His own – allowing us, for a brief time, to bask in the grandeur of its innocence?

I am one that sees this as a miracle, a miracle from someone or something with a greater purpose than our own.  You don’t have to be religious to be moved by it but it certainly does reshape how we think of Him and of how He creates the life that surrounds us.  We can be a most promising race, if we only allow ourselves to enjoy the passing of time and cherishing the one thing we all have in common – our faith that with all things – there is a time.

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven (Pete Seeger, Lyrics, Columbia Studios, 1965).

As spring leads into summer and summer bows to fall and as life gives way to slumber, we can all agree that what we are truly looking at is faith, faith that we are all a part of something truly special.  Such is the ‘art of the harvest’.

May the wind be at your back, may the sweet breezes from the fields penetrate your heart and may His peace be with you, always.