Harvest Season

My husband is old fashioned and still likes to buy the paper. One morning as I was reading yesterday’s news over my coffee I saw an advertisement for a grand opening. In a nearby city, a trendy restaurant was holding a round of open interviews. They knew that once they were in business they would have a lot of demand but little staff. “No experience needed! Willing to train!” The ad exclaimed.

The Workers Are Few

This reminds me of Jesus’ appeal to his disciples as he walked among the crowds during his ministry.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”~ Matthew 9:35-38

Jesus saw the need of the people was great and asked his followers to pray for more laborers. This need is just as real today. Even though you may not be experienced in white glove service you can still roll up your sleeves and bus some tables. God is willing to train!

Bringing Your Fruits to the Harvest

People’s hearts are hungry for God, and our culture is spiritually starving. So how does God qualify us to work in his kingdom? Through the fruits of the holy spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ~Galatians 5:22-23

In this chapter the Galatian churches were in crisis. They wanted to reach spiritual wholeness by adhering to the law and ultimately failed. Paul’s answer was for them to stop relying on themselves and instead invoke the holy spirit. It’s fruit is a catalyst of great change, needed by all believers to sustain us. We need to tend to the gardens of our heart and pull in our personal crop to better gather in the great harvest of God’s people.

Calling All Imperfect Laborers

I have a friend who is a born talker! She is so charismatic and captivating when she speaks. I was telling her how useful something like that could be in a ministry setting. She said that she would if she could conquer all of the sin in her life first. She felt she wasn’t ready to do that so she asked that God would take that desire from her. But, the desire persists because God still wants to use her! God wants the willing, not the perfect!

I felt the same way when I was grappling with starting this blog. I came up with 100 excuses over the years to ignore God’s nudging. I’m not a journalist or professional photographer, I’m not a highly curated public figure, I didn’t have any professional accolades for writing. I was a teen mother, sometimes I complain and gossip, sometimes I drink too much wine! But, when I allowed my flaws to hold me back from my purpose my heart felt heavy. I knew that I needed to get over myself and share my story. God always used imperfect people in the bible for his glory. Paul persecuted Christians, Peter denied him, Thomas doubted, Sarah was impatient. It wasn’t their deeds but God who equipped them for the harvest season.

If it took perfection no one would ever utter a word about the Lord. None of us on our own account would be qualified so don’t let your struggles discourage you. Perfection isn’t relatable because none of us are perfect; brokenness is relatable because we are all broken. Be brave. Let God’s light shine through your broken places.

❤ Cait

 

 

 

 

Advertisement