Harvest time is wrapping up in Iowa. We’ve been watching the corn and beans grow since they were planted in the spring. I have loved a summer of driving through the countryside and seeing the “amber waves of grain.”
Okay, so my husband explains that this phrase, “amber waves of grain,” from the song “My County, Tis of Thee” is not scientifically accurate, as it is the wind causing the movement, while a wave transfers energy from one place to another in a regular and organized way. And it’s not grain, but corn and beans.
Whatever. I like the poetic expression.
Back to the countryside and driving past field after field, remarking on the growth and all the green. My eyes love the green contrasting with a blue sky with wispy white clouds.
Okay, so I love the way the color green makes my eyes feel. See, I grew up in desert areas, and the green is only there during the few weeks of rain, which usually comes in the winter. Colors make my eyes “feel.”
Yes, these feelings also happen only in the artsy-fartsy realm.
As you can tell, I live in an Iowa town surrounded by farm land. We talk about the weather and how it affects crops in the fields. We pay attention to growing things, so when the Bible often uses agricultural terms to describe God and His people, I pay attention.
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96:11-13)
In a letter to the church in Corinth, Paul describes Christians as a field in which he (and others) plant the seeds of the Gospel. God’s people grow in His field, which includes all the believers around the world. We grow in His field so that we will do the work of God.
5 The Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field. (1 Corinthians 9:5-9)
We are God’s field. He has given us life, and we are growing in Him to bear His fruit.
Kathleen S Evenhouse 