Thanksgiving for the harvest is more than child's play

   With November soon upon us, the theme turns thanksgiving. Children will grab crayons to color turkeys and puritans and glue corn onto construction paper in order to hold onto the history of our country. Of course, the first thanksgiving was a celebration of the harvest that enabled their survival. We are nourished by the work of farmers who, in turn, are enabled by the great gift of growth from small seeds planted in the ground.
   The Apostle Paul picks up the language of harvest in his letter to the church in Corinth when he says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).  Ironically, he used the image of growth in love and grace to address a particular conflict that had arisen in the church!
   What elements bring about the growth in our hearts? Have we given through to the changes needed in our souls? George MacDonald writes in Life Essential,

The words of the Lord are the seed sown by the sower. Into our hearts they must fall that they may grow. Meditation and prayer must water them, and obedience keep them in the sunlight. Thus will they bear fruit for the Lord's gathering.

Are you regularly allowing the seeds (the Word of God) to take root in your soil (your heart and soul) in order that it may grow (in grace, peace and love)? What is stopping you? You're busy? Too busy to attend to the things that matter? Too busy to invest in the very substance that remains when everything else is gone?
   Find your way to worship on Sundays. Open your bible every morning. Offer a prayer asking God to orient your day around his best desires for you. God loves you.
   Grace and peace, Scott