The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. Psalm 145:15

Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Lord of the Harvest

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.  Luke 10:2


This year we decided to try out our own square foot garden, and despite getting a late start, it's growing up nicely with minimal space and work.  We've already enjoyed some homemade pesto pizza from our basil, but this week we got our first real harvest of vegetables, some yummy green and yellow wax beans.

Harvesting is no easy business.  Sure, when you just have a few plants (and a toddler-sized helper) it goes pretty quickly.  But when you think about picking most vegetables on a larger scale it is incredibly tedious.  Gently lifting up the leaves, taking only that fruit which is ripe and carefully leaving the rest to grow and mature.  In many cases it must be done by hand.  It's no wonder that in the US and throughout the world, this task of harvesting lends itself toward some terrible abuse, where farms enslave vulnerable adults and children to work such difficult jobs, with little or no pay and dangerous working conditions.  (This is just one of many compelling reasons to grow your own food or buy food locally from farmers with whom you can build relationships.)

God also has a challenging harvest waiting for us.  And unlike our typical American way of doing things, it cannot be outsourced, automated, or forced upon the poor.  We, the people of God, are called by him to go out into his fields and get our hands dirty with the needs of people, the gospel, and the sacrificial work of pouring out grace to the world.  It is not easy work, but it promises real joy, the kind that sustains you in all circumstances.  This is God's purpose for your life, and it is not only his plan to draw all people close to him, but to draw you close to him as well.

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Do you want to do something about human trafficking and slavery in modern agriculture?  Dagbé is an organization founded by a friend of ours that is making a difference in the lives of children, especially in regard to agricultural slavery.  Dagbé serves primarily in Benin, Africa (a region prone to human trafficking) and they are presently trying to raise funds for an anti-human trafficking training program for members of the community.  Their fundraising project only has 10 days left, so please consider making a donation today and pray for God to work through Dagbé to prevent the tragedy of slavery among these children and families.

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