February 14, 2025
The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few
I get a visual of my grandma picking fruit at meet parents’ house. Over the past 19 years, they have now over 12 fruit trees. The first thing on her agenda is to head to the side of their house where the trees reside. She heads out with her fruit picker, and she tries to catch the little ones out the door. She recruits people to come alongside her. Sometimes, it’s successful with my cousins. Other times, it’s not. Most often for me, she is very convincing. So you can usually find me out there with her. Others may join us, but sometimes it’s her and I. And even oftentimes, it’s just her. I also will get phone calls from her asking to bring lemons. She reminds me to go pick where the fruit is plentiful. She is a subtle reminder to go out where the abundance is.
I am humbled as I am out there.
It brought me to what I am going to touch on today.
In Matthew, He said to His disciples, “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.”
As the harvest is plentiful, I see that what is reaped was sown, the vine multiplies, and the fruit comes in due time.
1. What is reaped, was sown.
The soil matters.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Matthew 7:18 + 20
The tree produces the fruit that is grown. The seeds we sow leads to the fruit we see.
Apples come from apple trees. Lemon trees grow from lemon seeds.
Likewise, if you want peace, sow peace. If you want love, sow love.
If we want a friend, the best thing we can be is a good friend ourselves. If we want love, we can look to the One who first loved us.
If we want peace, may we set aside intentional time for peace. If we want joy, may we focus our eyes and ears on the One who gives Joy.
We must go to the source. We must be built on strong roots, roots that are strong, able to withstand. The way we lay down our foundation matters. So we are built to last.
The orange tree does not produce apples.
Likewise, the lemon tree does not produce avocadoes.
Be intentional with what you grow and what you plant. Be intentional with where you plant. Be intentional with the time you spend and where you spend it. The roots and the foundation matter.
The time we spend with God will produce and show our fruit. The way we love others show who we are following.
This is the call to spend time with the Creator. The Creator over every garden and over every tree. He gave us a garden to tend from the very beginning.
So, I am humbled to ask, How are we tending the garden that He has placed us in?
I am reminded of the golden rule we often heard growing up - Do onto others as we want others to do onto you. Matthew 7:12
I am wondering how often we see, hear, and apply this simple but bold principle in our day to day now. The golden rule is a lot like planting good soil. If we want fruit, we have to take care of the process along the way.
What we sow matters. What we reap matters. Growing takes intentionality. It takes time.
2. The Vine Multiplies
The branches reach wide, and the branches spread wide.
Jesus reminds us that from the vine, the branches grow. He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches” John 15:5.
I sit here humbled looking at the tree that produces, endures, and braces each season for the fruit to be multiplied.
The tree’s branches produce fruit not for itself but for a source for those that come. It endures the seasons. It braves the pruning. It provides rest and shade for those along the way. The fruit trees simply do not eat their own fruit.
Rather than a tree consuming its own fruit, it grows to give. To provide a place of refuge and shade. It all comes from the vine’s nourishment. This nourishment then multiplies upon the branches.
May we be branches that help nourish, protect, and give. We are here to be a place of rest and shade for people along the way. We are here to produce fruit so that others may see the Good and Holiness of God.
May whatever I go through, may whatever I endure, maybe just maybe, I will be able to provide a place of rest and safety for someone walking along the way needing a place to come and just be.
Strong trees have strong roots. The stronger the roots, the more durable the tree.
It takes time to grow. Be patient with yourself in the growing process.
It is about learning and finding pockets of adventure along the way. It is about finding new avenues to love others deep and wide. It is about finding new opportunities to cultivate joy and peace amongst everything around us.
Those willing to endure in patience, trust in His process, and share are few.
I am encouraged to pray intently and with sincerity. Do not overlook the call God has placed before you. If we are called to labor, may we labor earnestly. May we be people tending intently.
May we be the people willing to go far, wide, and deep for the mission of making it on earth as it is in Heaven. May we be people that go out and pick the fruit that is abundant. It may take work, effort, and time. I am reminded that walking in step is the ultimate adventure we are invited on.
Walk in step. Labor the garden.
3. Trees take time
All great things take time. It takes 3-5 years for a lemon to grow. Oranges take about 3-5 years and then another 7 months to ripen. Lime trees take 4 to 10 years to harvest fruit. Apple trees take anywhere between 2 to 10 years to produce. From the seed, avocadoes take around 5-13 to produce a plentiful harvest.
These different trees take specific times. They take specific time due to the demands called for the fruit being grown. The fruit on these trees needs intentional time to remain on the branches before it is picked.
The timeline may be different for every tree in that time frame.
The process may be long but useful.
The process is the most important time. Over those years, the seasons change, and the tree uses every season for a specific reason. There is a season for sunlight, for rain, for watering. Even for pruning.
One of the most valuable aspects of the process is often the pruning process. The pruning is the part of our lives that needs to be trimmed in order that new fruit can come to flourish.
Pruning is the process when individual branches are cut selectively specially to increase fruitfulness and growth. The process of pruning is to cut out the rougher edges in order that new growth can flourish.
It can be long, hard and require manual labor. It may be a sore process. I am sore right now in my own season. There is a lot of heavy lifting.
I have been in the pruning, and I have seen the beauty on the other side. So today as I am in the pruning in yet another season, I am thankful ahead of time for the intentional process so that I can show up best for what is ahead.
The season we are in, is preparing us for the next. I do not to want to miss the reason for winter because I am ready to dress for spring. There is a due time.
The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6: 8b +9
The season you are in may be long, may be represented as a marathon that you had not signed up for. The season may be great and gracious. The season may be one of summer sunshine. This very season, His face may be shining so clearly right upon you. The season may be bitter cold. The season may be pruning, and painful. Wherever you are, you are near. And so is He.
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As He says the laborers are few, I am reminded that there is a call to action. One of adventure. One of working in the now. May we be people willing to go far, wide to labor in love, the garden He has placed us in.
The waiting is actually the working. What we may think is the waiting, may be the very season He is calling us to work and to tend to right now. As I am thinking of a new season to arrive, I am wondering what I need to do in the very season that I am in today, so that I can show up the best version of myself for the season that is ahead of me.
The waiting is the working season.
So, whatever you are hoping for, whatever you are waiting for, I encourage you to do something now that opens the heart, opens the posture for God to come in and do a new work in you for the season that you are in now.
The process of growth is intentional, and a moment is never discarded.
If we get overwhelmed by the years it takes to grow fruit, we may never start. The time is now because if we have a breakthrough in year 5, if we had not been diligent in year 2 or month 7 or day 12, we may never reap the harvest. In the same way, in our relationship with God, it takes today. It takes one step towards surrender to meeting Him. Breakthrough may be happening right now and will continue to come. If we miss out or grow tired and stop on day 15, I do not want us to miss the blessings that God may have on day 16 or month 27. He is here to teach us, mold us, and grow us.
I see this visual as I say yes to my grandma. Saying yes to go pick the fruit that no one else was out there picking. Just time with me and the Lord to see His creation, His fruit He is tending.
There is so much to learn in every yes.
Wherever you find yourself
You are seen, valued, and loved.
May it be More of Him, less of Me
May His name be magnified, His name be glorified
With love,
Makenna
