Growth

I took a long walk today with my ipod shuffle. I needed the time alone and with the Lord as much is going on inside of me that needs sorting out. I've walked this path before and shared pictures from the fall of these same fields; however, they looked very different than they do now. They were full of growth---corn to be specific and were ready for harvest. There was much 'fruit' and the pictures were interesting.

Today, as I walked past these same fields, I missed seeing the cornstalks...I missed seeing the 'fruit'...I missed the beauty. Instead, I got to see some fields that look like this picture below...just dirt. Plowed. Flat. Sort of ugly. Nothing that anyone would go out of their way to take a picture of. Nothing that anyone would really say is beautiful.

But the revelation came quickly. These 'ugly' looking dirt fields are the same fields that were beautifully full of 'fruit' just months ago. The Good Farmer knows that they have to be plowed over, plowed under, plowed...and prepared. If the Good Farmer doesn't do this, the field won't produce anything of value. After each fruitful season, there is a plowing over, a plowing under, a time when things can seem pretty 'ugly' and unproductive. However, the Good Farmer knows how necessary it is to get the ground ready for the..........................



............seed! After the plowing, and the fertilizing of the soil and the waiting through the winter, comes the planting of the seed. But even this picture isn't something someone would notice and say, "Wow, look at that beautiful field!" The seeds are just breaking the surface as they sink their roots down deeply into the nutrient rich soil that the Good Farmer prepared. And even more importantly, these little plants are reaching up to...............



....................the life-giving sunshine. As I walked along today, mostly looking down at the ground and at the dirt fields, and the early growth, I suddenly sensed I should look UP! This is what I saw! Gorgeous, life-giving sunshine that brings growth to these fields. And even as I looked up, I sensed the Good Farmer's love pouring out on me in all His life-giving glory, reminding me that the times of being plowed over and under, the times of sitting and waiting, the times of planting seed and small growth springing forth are all necessary for His fruit to be produced in my life.

As I looked up, the song on my ipod shuffle was:

"Oh the wonderful cross, oh the wonderful cross, bids me come and die and find that I may truly live!"