This is the season of harvest. We recently returned from a trip to North Dakota, and I think the best tomatoes are grown in North Dakota. I grew up on a farm in the northeast part of the state so I may be a bit biased! I brought home a box full of tomatoes and have been enjoying BLTs, bruschetta, salsa, and salads. I also brought back corn on the cob and a whole box of cucumbers. Yum!

For most gardeners, the harvest is their favorite part of the process. I haven’t had a vegetable garden for years but, when I did, I enjoyed the planting much more than the harvest. I know, this is most unusual indeed! I loved the planting when the weather was mild and the soil cool. I even enjoyed the first couple times of weeding. But in August, when the produce was ripe and ready to be canned, it was hot and sticky, and the mosquitos were awful. After working a full day in the office and fixing dinner for my family, I would harvest the produce, bring it inside, and begin the process of canning in a kitchen without air-conditioning. I remember falling asleep at the table in the wee hours of the morning while waiting to unload that last canner full of beans. After several years of this, I simply began getting my produce at the farmer’s market and buying green beans, already canned, in the supermarket.

Please don’t judge me. Vegetable gardening is a favorite pastime of many — I know this. I think, if I would have just enjoyed the fresh produce “in the moment” I would have had a different experience. I was missing the joy of the harvest.

As I look to Scripture, and recognize that all my blessings come from the Lord, how can I not find joy in all He gives me? The Lord of the Harvest supplies the seeds, and He also supplies the harvest. All that we have, God gave us. As I celebrate this harvest season, I pray the Lord will remind me that I am blessed to experience the spirit of harvest each time I share His love and mercy with others. This is a joy of which I do not want to miss!

I pray that the joy of His harvest abounds in you. I pray that you won’t do what I did and look upon His blessings as a chore but find joy “in the moment” and spread His joy to those around you. We are truly blessed by the Lord of the Harvest, are we not?!

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:10).

Today, and always, we are surrounded by HIS grace,

Debbie