The Season Of Harvest?

The Season of Harvest?

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9, NIV

Our friend Marshall Shelley is vice president of Christianity Today International. We first got to know Marshall through his practical writings on marriage. He inherited his no-nonsense writing style from his father, Bruce, who wrote about church history in a way that any layperson could understand. In fact, when Les was taking an advanced graduate course in church history as part of his seminary education, he’d often read Bruce Shelley’s explanation so that he could better understand the scholarly text assigned in the class.

Marshall has a keen knack for finding practical applications within the context of everyday experiences. An experience he had with his wife’s father, a Kansas farmer, is a great example. All his life he raised corn, wheat, milo, and beef cattle. Along the way he also raised sheep and chickens. One morning Marshall was tagging along with his father-in-law around the farm when they talked about the differences between city dwellers and those who live on farms.

Most city people, he explained to Marshall, expect each year to be better than the last one. “They think it’s normal to get an annual raise, to earn more this year than you did last year,” he said. But a farmer has good years and bad years, depending on the weather. A single storm can wipe out a year’s crops, just as a series of well-timed rains can improve them. Some years farmers have more, some years less.

Marshall said that moment with his father-in-law became an indelible memory. It gave him clarity about his own life. Growing in spiritual maturity requires gratefully accepting the “seasons of more” and the “seasons of less” that God weaves into the specific areas of our lives, areas like marriage. After all, every couple experiences changing seasons, and some years a particular season can be especially tough. Other times, a season can be especially fulfilling.

Whether this autumn season is rich with harvest for your marriage or not nearly what you expected or hoped, God’s Word urges you to keep your hands on the plow and not become “weary in doing good.” It encourages us not to give up.

Are you experiencing a “season of less” right now and feeling tempted to give up doing good in some area? If so, what specific thing can you do today to keep your hand on the plow?

If, on the other hand, you are in a “season of more,” take a lesson from a wise Kansas farmer, and thank God for this season’s blessings.

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.

—Og Mandino