Brenda’s Blog – November 18, 2014
The flashing roadside sign caught my attention. The rural route I chose gave me relief from the 18 wheelers and the non-stop interstate. The small towns on the “blue roads” still fascinate me. I think about the remote houses and the reasons they live there – the consolidated school districts which put children on buses for long rides outside their communities – the multitude of church steeples representing a variety of denominations and worship preferences. Mile after mile is the way to see America.
When the sign blinked on and off, it triggered a thought… how ready are we for harvest times in our lives? What are the implements and vehicles which give the world clues that we are in harvest mode?
At work it is easy to get trapped by the ongoing processes and the projects which move endlessly on. But we can’t continue to sow without stopping to reap. If the farmers left the crops alone they wouldn’t self-harvest, would they? No, they would wither and rot.
When we started the Breakfast With Fred Project, one of our board directors asked the question: “When will we know it is a success? When will we know to have the party?”
When do we know relationships have matured to a point of bearing fruit? When do we know we have developed those around us sufficiently to cut the ties and let them fly? How do we measure our spiritual maturity?
Some of us are sowers; others are reapers, but we are all part of the harvesting cycle. When fruition comes we need to stop and celebrate. Children give us great opportunities for their life stages are so evident. Walking, talking, going off to school – those are harvest moments reflecting natural development.
A healthy family, church, or business needs to establish “metrics and measurements” to let them know when it is party time. And we should be clear about those points with those around us. We all need to work for harvest time and then build a flashing light that tells the world our threshing machines are on the move.