A Time to Harvest

The days are getting shorter and cooler. The gardens are full of produce. Even the leaves are beginning to change into the beautiful array of colors. The beauty of the Earth is in it's fullest.

It's also the busiest time of year for many people.  But especially so for the farmers! Not only do we have our normal, everyday chores, but we also have all of the crops to harvest.  Harvest time is a wonderful time-- a time of appreciating how God has blessed our hard work.  It's busy, though, let me tell ya!

For me, it's less corn silage-chopping, hay-bailing, and barley-combining.  Instead, it's peach-freezing, apple sauce-cooking, and corn-cutting.  It's wonderful to see my freezer fill up so quickly and know that I will have food to prepare all through the winter.

I think my favorite part of the harvest season, however, has nothing to do with the physical side of harvest.  I am reminded of last year and a conversation I had with my now father-in-law.  We were discussing the harvest and how God has given farmers a special way of understanding humanity's need for a Savior.  We were reminded of Luke 10:2, "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.'" I think that no other group of people understand that urgency of the harvest that Jesus spoke of better than the farmers.  They hold a special realization that if the harvest is not collected quickly, the time will run out.  

The provision of our needs reminds me of God's goodness and his love.  His promise endures forever. And I am forever grateful. 

Beginning to Adjust

For those who have never been truly exposed to the dairy farming world, there is probably a lack of understanding as to why dairy farmers are always tired.  Before I married Mitchell, I had a very small view of what dairy farming was like-- my dad had been a dairy farmer, my best friend through childhood lived on a dairy farm, and I visited Mitchell plenty during our dating days to get a taste of the farm life.

Nonetheless, I was in for a big surprise about how life would really be.

I am tired.

This is a statement used unnecessarily by way too many people. I'll grant that probably many mothers have faced true exhaustion, but many have no clue how it feels. Getting up at 4:30am morning after morning? That's tiring. Working (physically) harder than some people ever do? That's tiring. Trying to get everything else that needs done in the 6 hour period between chore times? That's tiring. Coming in from the barn at 8:00-9:00pm, showering, and still having to make supper? That's tiring.  Knowing that the cycle will start all over again tomorrow? That's tiring.

But we can't complain. God has blessed us very much.

Why would a person subject themselves to a lifestyle such as this? Because we love the animals-- we love the feeling of falling asleep tired because we worked hard-- we love the rewards of eating food grown in our own fields, gardens, or barns-- we love that God continues to give us strength to face each new day with JOY!

Somedays, especially during this adjustment period for me, it's hard to see all those reasons of why we do what we do.  But God never fails to give me just enough strength to get through today. I rest in that promise that he may give me more than I can handle, but that's alright! He will show His power through my weaknesses in this time and forever.

Oh, and one more reason it's an awesome life? A view like this one...