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Maple trees stand ready to burst forth with golden-bronze highlights.
Beechnuts tickle the leaves as they fall to the ground.
Red tinges the leaves of the burning bushes.
Pumpkin patches set ablaze with orange, plump fruit.
Cornfields ripe for gathering.

My favorite time of year. Fall. It always brings to mind the seasonal word harvest.

Nature goes through its seasons, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (NKJV)

Just as nature, we, as Christians, have circumstances that bring rain, sunshine, heat, cold, storm, calm, dryness, fire, and flood. Our aim is to always work toward having a spiritual harvest, no matter what the circumstantial season.

But how do we produce the luscious harvest God desires for our lives?

God once whispered to my heart…

“If the ground is not turned, I cannot plant My seeds. A life as a lovely green meadow with its abundance of wild flowers is a fair picture of beauty. But there’s more to be had from the rich soil lying beneath the surface blanket of a lovely green pasture. Cultivating this meadow can produce a harvest of fruit, of nourishment, of good things for others.

“The Hand of the One tilling the soil is the One Who loves it the most and sees the greatest potential in it for a harvest. The roots of unwanted growth beneath the surface must be ripped out that the ground might be tilled and furrowed. This gives room to accept the seeds of new growth and eventually welcome a beautiful, golden field of harvest, waving its ripened grain in the breeze.

“A life in the Hands of the One guiding the plow will display a fruitful meadow. When it is uprooted and turned over, it welcomes the plantings of the Master Husbandman and gladdens the hearts of others with its lovely field of harvest.”

What is damaging the harvest in your life? Hmmm. Do you have any roots of unwanted growth? I know I do.

Any roots of bitterness, unforgiveness, pride, jealousy, judging, gossip, complaining, doubt, worry, or hypocrisy, among other things, will destroy the possibility of an abundant, spiritual growth and harvest. The roots of unwanted growth must be ripped out in order to have good soil.

Jesus explained the good soil in the Parable of the Sower, “But the good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a plentiful harvest for God - thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as was planted in their hearts.” (Mark 4:20 TLB)


What are you harvesting? Is the soil of your heart producing what it should? Or maybe you have a mixed crop, having planted negative seeds in with the positive seeds?

God told Israel, “Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.” (Deut. 22:9 NIV)

Reproducing the character of God in our lives requires the planting of His Seed-Word in our hearts, not the seeds the world spits at us. There can only be one Seed in our hearts!

Don’t like the crop you’re growing? Maybe its time to check those seed bags! Paul tells us, “Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds!” (Gal. 6:7-8a MSG)

If we want our lives to have an abundant harvest spilling over with ripe fruit, we need to rip out the old roots, weed, and plant God’s seeds. Then, we will see a bumper crop at harvest time, for “the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.” (Gal. 6:8b MSG)

“A life in the Hands of the One guiding the plow will display a fruitful meadow.” May your life be cultivated by the Husbandman that it may “produce a harvest of fruit, of nourishment, of good things for others.” And may your harvest be plentiful!



Today's post is part of the ChristianWriters.com blog chain on the topic of harvest. For other great posts, check out the list in the right sidebar.

Please join me over at LivingBetterat50+ for my new place of monthly devotionals.

“And He changes the times and the seasons.”

(Dan. 2:21 NKJV)

This time of year, the heat and humidity of the summer season is, hopefully, becoming a welcomed memory and cool breezes and the beauty of the reds, golds, and oranges of fall begin to emerge. Don’t we all love it when the seasons change?

But what about our lives? Do we accept the seasons of spiritual change prompted by the circumstances in our lives? Do we see any beauty emerge from the myriad trials and afflictions that assault us? If “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1 NIV), how do we view the changes?

Where can the most beautiful vistas be viewed? From atop the summit of the tallest mountain, after the most strenuous climb.

Which valleys have the richest, green velvet pastures with the fullest spikes of wildflower colors? Those that have withstood the greatest drenching rains.

What forests produce the most prolific new growth? Those that have suffered the hot, searing flames of destruction.

Which diamonds sparkle the most brilliantly? Those that have felt the cleaving of the jeweler’s sharp chisel and the friction of the polishing wheel.

An old Chinese proverb says, “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”

Just as all of nature suffers contrary conditions in order to be expanded, improved, or strengthened, so, too, do we. Difficulties and trials will always be a part of our lives. We cannot separate ourselves from them. And if we ponder it closely, we realize we will not grow as Christians if trials do not come to test and enlarge us that our greater beauty might emerge.

If we try to wiggle out of these times, we force premature deliverance, frustrating God’s plan. It is like prying open a cocoon before the caterpillar has finished its metamorphosis into a butterfly. Forcing open the cocoon too soon will render the caterpillar deformed for the rest of its short lifespan.

When we manipulate the hands of the clock to align with our own agenda, we destroy the beauty that God desires to emerge from His timing. Through our own efforts to “help” God out with our deliverance, do we come out of our cocoon of circumstance too early and spiritually deformed in some way? Or do we wait for the revealed transformation by God’s hand?

Is our cocoon of circumstance not intended, as for the butterfly, to deepen our richest colors and give us wings of flight, beautifying our character for a new season in life, all which we may not have had before the trial? While in that cocoon of circumstance, we “are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NIV)

God knows the worth, the power, and the beauty hidden deep within our hearts and only that which is contrary to our comfort releases the precious qualities within us. As Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18 NKJV)

God will work out all our circumstances for our benefit, from one spiritual season to the next, when we fully commit them and ourselves to Him, His Word, and His timing.

After experiencing a cocoon of contrary circumstance, are you able to say as David, “My troubles turned out all for the best”? (Ps. 119:71 Msg)

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Rom. 8:28 NLT)

From one season to the next…“being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV)