Hello Everyone
Harvest from hardship. In the fields of life, it seems we have unconscious expectations that we will always reap ‘premium crops’ and ‘abundant produce’ when it comes to harvesting our best lives. Deep down we aren’t necessarily anticipating many of the difficulties that come our way in life. We traverse our fields being somewhat sensitized to the small noxious weeds of hardship that pop their heads up, seeking to choke the nutrients of quality out of our lives. We hit a pothole here and there and keep moving forward with our blinkers on and forget that Jesus says, we will have trouble in this world and some of those potholes will turn into deep furrows of heartache (John 16:33). What we expected to reap from life does not eventuate. Yet in God’s economy there is an expectation that we can always harvest from hardship and those crops can turn out to be our best harvests ever Why is that? Because what precedes the statement that Jesus makes about trouble is that He gives us His peace and what follows it is He declares He has overcome the world. There’s a harvest right there.
As we continue in this season of the pandemic and the everyday troubles of our lives, we must embrace a different understanding of harvest. God’s intention is always abundance. That was His intention in original creation and His desire for us to flourish has not changed. Yet we live in a world that experienced a catastrophic impact on the abundant life God first created, when sin spoiled the harvest. So, when Jesus reminds us that we will have troubles in this world, the idea of abundance does not preclude hardship, because Jesus is always restoring us to His original creative purpose as He harvests the good and the difficult experiences in our journey. With the hope set before us in Jesus, it is possible to harvest from hardship.
So, before we all go throwing out the sheaves that include sadness, heartache, or suffering, we can co-labour with our Master, Jesus, who harvests all things and turns them into abundance. As we remain planted in our fields, no matter whether we are experiencing growth from a sun-kissed season or we encounter the elements of difficulty, we can always harvest from hardship when we allow Jesus to gather every fruit of our lives and bring a harvest that is miraculously and always abundant.
So, friends get your “harvest” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen