v 3 Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!
For nine years or so of our early married life we lived next door to a very hardworking and skilled gardener. He was generous with his advice too – which usually came in the form of ‘What you should have done last month was …’ His own garden was packed with produce of all kinds, and it was apparent that he loved his gardening. It was not always ‘pretty’ but it was mighty productive and a place to celebrate God’s abundant provision. He was not a man to be always moaning – as some gardeners are. ‘The ground is too dry’ or ‘You can’t dig today, it’s too wet’ or ‘The slugs are getting at everything’ or ‘The kids next door keep kicking the football over’.
Harvest is a time to celebrate! It may be November now, and actual thoughts of harvest time are just memories – but learn to celebrate it all year round!
Celebrate the invention of incredible machinery that harvests, packs and preserves our food. Celebrate the shopkeepers and truck drivers that get the food to us. Celebrate the food inspectors who make sure food is fresh and healthy. Celebrate the recipe writers and their imaginative ways of getting food on the table. Celebrate the cooks who labour over hot stoves AND then do the washing-up. Celebrate the farmers who have learned to sow, care for and harvest crops at the right moment. Celebrate the agriculturalists who have researched and invented effective ways of protecting the crops and maximising the yields.
And celebrate God’s wonderful plan for growth and the diversity of plant and animal life that satisfies human need. Celebrate God’s plan for the rotating seasons, and the ever changing sequence of hot and cold, night and day, wet and dry, that feeds growth and ripening.
Offer your celebration back to God as you give thanks at every mealtime.
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