You usually hear the word, Harvest during the fall season. It floats around the Thanksgiving holiday and county festivals. And always connected with agriculture and produce. Since it's part of my address, I'm reminded whenever I drive up my street. So when God dropped the third word theme for 2023, Harvest, it piqued my interest.
What does Harvest even mean? Handy dandy Webster says: the season for gathering in agricultural crops, the act or process of gathering in a crop, a mature crop (as of grain or fruit), an accumulated store or productive result.
When I googled what it means spiritually, this popped up: "Harvest is used to refer to the spiritual gathering of people in the name of Jesus. He said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." That plentiful Harvest he was referring to was all the people who were waiting to hear a word from God. We are the workers of that Harvest."
So what did that mean for my family and me? God said it was time to open up our home again and host our Happy Hour Fellowship (HHF) gatherings and Upper Room dinners. For those unfamiliar with HHF, check out this blog post. We had to take a break due to Covid and family obligations. So then we hosted Upper Room dinners where we invited only ten people, sat around the table, and had a smaller scale of HHF. It was absolutely lovely, and we enjoyed our connection with everyone. Then our children's activity schedule and life changes required us to put those dinners on hold as well so we could keep our family life as a priority. Our goal was not just to maintain a family life but devote our life to our family.
But now that we are more settled with the kids' activities, have a better rhythm, and received the Lord's directive to start HHF again, Harvest fits perfectly with what we have to focus on this year.
I'll be transparent with you. Hesitation and doubt did pop up when we started to pray and plan. Thoughts like repainting my walls, buying new furniture, and wishing to redecorate like it was on HGTV popped up. But God said, "It's time." And then fear tried to set in when I remembered how certain visitors didn't show value for our home and treated our belongings like they were insignificant. But God said, "It's time." And then the level of commitment and energy required to host tried to drain me even before we started. But God repeated, "It's time."
John 4: 35 (TPT) "As the crowds emerged from the village, Jesus said to his disciples, "Why would you say, "The harvest is another four months away'? Look at all the people coming-now is harvest time! For their hearts are like vast fields of ripened grain-ready for a spiritual harvest."
There is no time to waste. It may be inconvenient (last week's blog post) and costly, but it's investment time. Jesus was persistently inconvenienced when people followed Him for His attention, but He welcomed and ministered to them in love. Let's be like Jesus, welcome, and minister in love. Harvest time is NOW.
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