Lenten Reader | Day 3

Harvest

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

- Luke 10:1-3
I have rather limited experience with harvesting. I married into a family of farmers and the Manchester cousins still grow soybeans on the land. Remember when Doc Carter used to sing on the praise team, and from spring to fall would give the “weather report” each Sunday informing us how the crops were affected?

More recently, when the directors of the orphanages I work with in Kenya wanted to try growing potatoes and needed me to raise the money for seed, I became really interested in harvests! In all these experiences, one thing I’ve learned is that we are not in charge of the results – we work hard and smart and then trust in the Lord of the Harvest, who does unexplainable things that we rarely understand.

In Luke 10:6, this is even true for our sowing of peace. First, we must
have peace ourselves in order to bless someone else with it. Second, we give it to everyone because we don’t know who will be a willing recipient. Third, it is beyond our scope of responsibility whether or not the Prince of Peace is accepted. But last, our blessing is not wasted – it will come back to us if it is not wanted.

How freeing it is to know what our job is – and isn’t! Jesus instructs his
followers to begin sowing for the harvest by throwing out seeds of peace. Where do we get that in this chaotic world? Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Share the peace you are given each day and let the Lord be in charge of growing something from it.

-Theresa Manchester

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