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This is a unique time of the year as we head into the holiday season. I am always a little bit rushed this time of year. Before you know it, Thanksgiving will be here, and of course Christmas is just a few weeks beyond that. For most working moms, this is the start of the holiday marathon. I have to share that I had to travel to visit one of my children. She lives in Wisconsin. I had to drive past landscapes that, every mile, look like a photo on a jigsaw puzzle box. Red barns set on miles of bucolic vistas. Plowed fields, full of corn stubble, or the intense green of winter wheat. A sun that sets a glow over the peace of silos that dot the various farms for as far as the eyes can see. I stopped and had lunch in a small town, and everyone in the little eatery was simple, and the patrons were dressed in work clothes, complete with mud-covered boots. The parking lot was full of trucks loaded with work tools in the back.
What attracted my attention was the beauty of the land and the intense work required to make it productive. You cannot cheat on the effort and quality it takes to make this earth bring forth a harvest. The people in the little eatery worked; they gave what was needed to make the fields produce. You can't give just a minimum to be successful. The farmers here devote their life, energy, and entire being to what they love, and it shows. To drive through this beautiful landscape, you can only be amazed by the effort and love that goes into its making.
I began to see how this life of farming, and the farms I passed on the road, were a visual parable of our Christian life. You can't be successful if you are a lazy farmer. The farmer has to know his soil and understand the weather, be flexible and creative in his skills. But he or she has to give it their life. They have to keep their talents and vision for what they want to accomplish. They eat, drink, and give their life to their work, and it shows when you drive through their beautiful farms.
Christians, in many ways, are farmers; we must focus on the life God has given us. We must give our being as we travel our days. We have to work to make our lives beautiful fields by embracing compassion and caring for our neighbor. By giving help to our community. By never leaving our talents or skills to create useless and temporary lives that are only about our entertainment or pleasure. We are looking for the good that lasts and the souls that need our care.
There is nothing like seeing a solid, happy family that works together, where the mother and father cherish their children. Where the children are taught to help in the home, to see where they can help their brothers and sisters. Where they don’t need a load of things sold on the internet. They are hard-working and respectful of their parents. Is this not as beautiful as the fields I have been traveling through? Work and love are needed in both family and on farms. The aim here is to make a life worthy of our soul.
The Bible is full of references to farming. The work and aim of growing are often used in Jesus’ parables. Granted, new machines make farming more productive and less risky. But the vision and dedication are the same today as they were thousands of years ago. Isn’t this like our own Christian life today? We live in a modern world; technology helps us in so many ways, but the vision of our God’s love for us demands our dedication and witness to make our fields gleam with beauty, and our souls sing with productive grace.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. ( John 15:1-4)